Happy New Year!

Just a quick post - no pics even - to wish you all well as we usher out 2014 and welcome in 2015.

We thought about heading down to Seattle tonight to bring in the New Year but my 15 YO majorly face-planted on his skateboard last night and isn't feeling up to it.  (Poor guy, 2 front teeth chipped - badly.  One's a goner.)  I'm okay with having a nice, cozy night at home with the fam.  It's cold out there!

Love, Health & Prosperity, friends!

When the Cats are Sleeping, the Mouse Creates...

I'm not entirely sure why that seemed like a good title for my post, but here's the explanation...

It is Winter Break for the kiddos.  That translates into them staying up WAY too late and sleeping in until after noon.  Seriously.  I'm an early riser so that leaves me all morning to hunker down in my studio and get messy  - guilt free.

This morning I stumbled upon Claudine's blog post showing her latest installment of the APC challenge.  Somehow I missed all of the previous ones, but immediately felt compelled to hop on board and play along with the Distress Paint & tissue paper technique this week.

 

I rarely pull out the Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord colors I have.  I guess I'm just not much of a purple or purplish red person. Decided they needed dusting off today though.  Claudine let her paint dry before she applied the tissue.  I don't have that kind of patience so just smooshed it down right on top of the wet paint.  Since it was still pretty dark after it dried I added some stenciling over the top.

For a little interest I decided to layer the flower and leaves a bit with adhesive foam.

Here's what I used:

Distress Paints
Wendy Vecchi stamps
Copic markers
Black ink
Tissue paper
Playing card
Stencil
Stickles
Foam adhesive
White pen


I've decided to challenge myself to go back and attempt all of her challenge...not today though.  That will be my New Years' artsy resolution.  :)

Have a spectacular day!

12 Tags of 2014 - December

I'm nudging the rules a bit and made an ATC rather than a tag.  I followed what Tim did ... kind of (as usual!).  Tim's December tag is HERE and this is what I came up with.

I'm also entering this in Wicked Wednesday's Winter Holiday and/or Silver or Gold challenge.

Products Used:
bristol paper
Distress Paint and Ink
Dylusions spray
Silver and black inks
Sizzix Festive Foliage
Washi tape
Grungeboard
Sizzix Reindeer Flight
Tinsel ribbon
Laser cut wood word
Vellum
Ultra fine glitter

Cheers!

Back to ATCs

I have some ATC swaps coming up and thought I'd get back to some mini bits of creativity.  The theme for these is Thread.  I'm not much of a seamstress so look closely to see wadded up bits of thread behind the birds.  ;)

One of my ATC trading friends saw the funny Christmas ATC I posted a couple of weeks ago and asked me to make her one.  This one is a little different.  ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Random Cards

A while ago one of my sisters asked me to make her some cards.  I whipped some out and packaged them up for her yesterday.  I had been hoping to make a bunch more, but you know what they say about 'best of intentions'...

I really struggle with this stamp. I love it, but have the hardest time figuring out how to use it.

Happy Boxing Day!

Holiday Rituals Remembered and Artified

I am so excited about my latest project.  Kate Crane posted a photo of a journal page recently on Facebook and I was immediately struck, as if by lightning!, with inspiration.  The theme of her page was the Christmas hymn, "We Three Kings".

When I was growing up we had a table in the family room dedicated to gift wrapping at Christmas time.  We were a very fortunate family and this area was a beehive of activity in December.  My dad would cackle with glee when he tricked us into helping to wrap one of our own gifts (usually by requesting a finger to secure the bow while he tied it).  We also had friendly competitions to see who could create the most outrageous bow.  (I wish I had photos of some of those - they were pretty amazing.)

One of my favorite traditions, however, was the one my third sister, Kim, and I shared.  We would each hold a wrapped gift in one hand and hold our other hands together up in the air regally.  Next we would belt out the hymn "We Three Kings" as we marched from the family room to the living room where our tree always sat.  We would do this for each gift we wrapped and I suspect some members of the family grew tired of the song.  We didn't though.

When I saw Kate's page I KNEW I had to create something for my sister.  I liberally borrowed from her to create this mini We Three Kings canvas.

It's been years since Kim and I have celebrated Christmas together - we live in different states. While I won't be there to see her open this, I'm confident that she'll grin.  And I know for a fact, that the next time we do get the chance to spend Christmas together, there will be some processionals to the tune of "We Three Kings".

Wishing you a fabulous Christmas!

Day after Christmas Update:  She liked it!  :)

Ohhhh...a MEdium!

Feel free to roll your eyes when you read this. I just had one of those ah-ha! moments. I'm working on a mini canvas and was having some problems with the color.  It was just too flat and boring. Several layers of paint, gesso, paint, and even more gesso I decided to try something.  I added some matte gel medium to my paint in hopes that it would make it a little more translucent. It worked!

I know.  Duh, Julie.  For some reason I've only thought of using it as an adhesive or to make super thin substrates a little sturdier.  It never occurred to me to just add it to my paint.  Dork.

I felt the need to share this today. :)  Happy Saturday!

IG Friends Traveling Journal - Debbie

I took a step away from Christmas-y craftiness this morning and finished up some journal pages that have been beckoning to me for several days.  I love getting these in the mail - it is so inspiring to see each person's unique style and how she transforms a blank page into a gorgeous piece of art.  These books are truly a treasure when they return home.

Here's my addition to Debbie's journal.

Lots of yummy lumpy texture on these pages.  I tried to capture the shimmer on the pages in the pictures too.  I used Perfect Pearls mint spray mist and it's really pretty in real life.

Off to go plant gardens and decorate souls...

Jah, Jamaica, mon!

I recently had a customer request a custom mini album as a gift.  Her son is taking his girlfriend to Montego Bay for Valentines' Day.  How cool is that??  This was so fun to make. It was really nice to delve into warm, tropical colors while the temps outside were so chilly.  :)  Here's a peek...

I can almost imagine myself sitting in a hammock, palm fronds rustling above in a warm, tropical breeze, sipping on an icy cold rum punch...

Love that Little Red Cup...

In my blog wanderings today I stumbled upon the Coffee Lovers challenge over at Tsuruta Designs.  I am a big coffee lover and for a while went a little over the top with collecting coffee-related stamps.  None of the stamps I used on my coffee-lovin' ATC have been inked up for a long time so I am stoked to have pulled them out for this today.

I'm a sucker for those little red cups that Starbucks pulls out every year.  They make me feel festive (or maybe that's the caffeine they contain).  Either way, I fully plan on grabbing one of these bad boys filled with...Caramel Brulee Latte?...Peppermint Mocha?...maybe a simple cappucino.  Regardless, I'll be well-caffeinated and a superhero in my own mind.  ;)

Happy Holidays!

Off-Kilter Christmas Humor ATCs

Since 'Anything Goes' is the theme over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge (and I haven't played in forever!) I decided to go Christmasy with inappropriate humor.  Don't judge.  :)  I'm also entering this in the Christmas ATC challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Merry Christmas!?!

Mixed Media Ornaments

I love to go to the local crafty store and pick up the plain glass ornaments (on sale, of course!).  They are so easy to alter and 'fancy up'.  :)

This year a made a bunch and in different shapes.  Lots of paper recycling (I always save the tissue paper in gifts as well as rescue books from the recycle bin), inking, stamping and painting.

 

If you have a little spare time and want to feel festive, put on some Christmas music, get out your Mod Podge and start ripping paper...  Or you can head over to Elves In The Attic on Etsy and pick up a few.

Ho ho ho!

IG Friends Traveling Journal - Sarah

I think I've blogged before about this art journal adventure that I'm on.  A group of IG friends have gotten together and each created a blank journal.  We then pass each journal around to the group and each person completes a 2-page spread.  I feel like I'm an art journaling novice but I really enjoy getting my hands all inked and painted up working on these.

Today I'm posting my creation for Sarah.  Lots of paint, spray inks, stencils, stamping...Hope she likes it!

December Daily 2014

Greetings!

I am (was) so pleased with myself.  I had my December Daily album all ready to go 2 weeks ago.  So ready in fact, that I kind of forgot about taking pictures the first three days of December (oops!).  I'm usually frantically trying to put together pages each day so I am completely unprepared when not in my procrastinatista mode.  :)

Here are a couple of quickie shots.

I'm going super simple this year - patterned paper, washi tape, a few laser cut wood shapes.  I'll try to post pics of the completed pages as I go.  

Happy Holidays!

Lynnwood Elementary Craft Fair is next Saturday!

Wow, I just realized that it's been over a month since I've written a post.  It makes sense though as that was about the time I agreed to be a vendor at a local craft fair.  I have been busily cutting, gluing, and stamping creating little lovelies for the holiday season.  Here's a sampling...

Be Merry Garland

Ho Ho Ho Garland

Mason Jar Gift Tags

8 Nights of Hanukkah Gift Tags

Reindeer Gift Tags

I've also made several sets of coasters and gift tags that have been popular in past seasons.  I enjoy all of this creative activity.  If you're in the Edmonds area next week, stop by the Lynnwood Elementary Craft Fair.  Proceeds benefit the Lynnwood PTO and help pay for field trips, classroom supplies and special events at the school.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

SDC 168: Book Text (and more Halloween goodies!)

Y'all know I just can't get enough of Halloween good things. When Corrie picked book text  for the current SDC challenge theme and my buddies in my Mixed Media ATC group decided to add 3 additional ATCs for our swap this time I knew it was time to get busy.  Here's what I did...

I used Girl With Lunchbox and tweaked her a little differently for each ATC.  Amazing how weirdly colored eyeballs can transform a girl into something kinda spooky.

Here's a peek at the three other Halloween-ish ATCs I made for our swap.

I hope you're enjoying October so far.  Cheers!

Festive Friday(s) 41 and 42

They choose the prettiest inspiration pics over at the Festive Friday Challenge blog.  I've been really busy the past few weeks with kids' school stuff and Etsy orders so didn't get to the #41 challenge, but things have calmed down a bit now so here I am catching up.

You can see where I borrowed the red ribbon, white background and greenery for my card from the inspiration photo below.

Inspiration photo for FFC 42

And here's my second card inspired by the previous challenge, FF #41:

This time I borrowed the evergreen wreath and wood background from the photo below.

Inspiration photo for FFC 41

It's so hard to think about Christmas right now when I'm still having so much fun with Halloween stuff.  It will be nice to have a stash of cards already done when December rolls around though.

Happy Friday!

I love October!

The chill is in the air in the mornings and crispy leaves are on the ground.  I love this time of year!  I have a long-standing trade with Aisling for 12 ATCs over the course of a year.  Seems pretty simple - one per month.  However, some things never change and since I'm a big, huge procrastinator I have eight to make over the next two months.  She likes the weird, quirky stuff like I do.  :)  Today I whipped this one up for her:

Mwah-ha-ha!  Makes me grin.  Hope you're having a fab Sunday too.

SDC 166 - Get Your Spook On!

Hooray!  October is right around the corner which means my absolute fave holiday is on the doorstep.  This week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog Carol has challenged us to whip up some early Halloween delights.  I went to town and created this interactive Halloween tag.

Thanks for stopping by and have a very Happy {early} Halloween!