Let Your Heart Soar

For a few weeks now, I've been praying for a friend that I left at my job in Ohio. My best way to express what's in my heart is to create, and it had been awhile since I had an evening that I: a) didn't have plans, and b) wasn't physically or mentally exhausted. I finally made some time this weekend and made this piece. 
I had kept a thought in my head from sometime this last week: someone's favorite color combination for the Fall was navy and orange (from a facebook update? Pinterest post? No clue!). I pulled out navy, burnt orange, and green paint, a 5x5 deep edge canvas, markers, and my tub of Mod Podge and got to work.

I Mod Podge'd (yes, that's a word in my house) some printed blue cardstock to the canvas, then randomly painted over 99% of it :) I felt all Christy-like and stamped with some bubble wrap I managed to sneak away from my kids. Next came random rub-on's, gel pen doodles, and some splashes of Adirondack inks.
Mr. Huey sprayed some tan onto my canvas letters to make their colors a bit more uniform, and I used my new favorite toys --my Big Brush Pens-- to write and color my chipboard heart.
These chipboard pieces were quite the find: packs of 20 or so random embossed chipboard shapes for $1. LOVE! I first painted the butterfly, then distressed it with ink, markers, and pens. I used some pop up Glue Dots to add some depth behind him:

And I loved how this simple little heart chipboard turned out, just by using the Big Brush and gel pens:

I just love how it turned out, and the best part?? It's SO easy to do! The less perfect, the better, which IS perfection, in my books!

bringing the mojo back

I'm going to be pretty candid here.

Packing up my life, leaving the house and a job I loved, and leaving my immediate family wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be.

{shock, right?}

The avenue that released the most stress pre-move was right here in craft land. The Lair was my 'home away from home' (even though it was in my basement), my little escape from the world. Oddly enough, through this transition, creating is the one thing that hasn't come back to me as easily.
At all.
Monthly projects due turned into mandatory assignments {gasp!! homework!!}, and what used to be done in pleasure is now done as work.

I think my body realized that I needed a bit of an escape for a few weeks more than mind did, but I'm glad I took it. That's why teachers get Summer breaks...why lifeguards get rest periods...why Sunday School teachers get Monday through Saturday: refuel, recharge, and go back at it with a renewed passion.

This week's challenge

So I'm back at it! I found a great little challenge blog called The Play Date Cafe. It's fun. They give you a color scheme, you make the project! Guidelines without strict parameters = LOVE! I'm tipping my toes back into the rivers of crafting, and it feels ggggggood.

This card expresses exactly what I've been feeling in the last few months. Sometimes it's too much to ask of someone to go above and beyond.
Sometimes you have to just be.

And that's ok.




Materials used in this post:
Hollo's Cardstock
Sweet Baby Pickles - Soft Blue 12x12
Wright's Seam Binding
Hambly Screen Prints
Basic Grey - Green at hear- micro mono stickers
Basic Grey - Wisteria - alphabet stickers
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape - symphony
Ribbon - Target
Floss
Glue Dots - ultra thin and mini

Snow Days Blog Hop * Day One!

Welcome to the Snow Days Blog Hop!!

We're so happy you could join us for this super-fun hop showcasing cards, layouts and projects that feature everything about Snow Days!! You'll find an array of ideas throughout the hop -- We hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!!

If you'd like to join our Snow Days Fun, then you are in the right place. Keep alert for blog candy along the way as some hop stops will be offering some goodies...

For the hop today, I've created a 12x12 scrapbooking page. I've had a few pictures of my little man in my 'to scrap' stack for years, and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to get them out and finished!

Thank you again for checking out my project... Now hop on over to Amy!

Here's a list of the entire hop, in case you get lost along the way or want to revisit anyone:

1. Lisa P
2. Bonnie
3. Sherry
4. Doris
5. Theresa D
6. Beckie
7. Erin {you are here!} 
8. Amy {go here next!}
9. Eva
10. Cathie
11. Ashley
12. Lisa G
13. Melissa
14. Kristen
15. Theresa 
16. Anita
17. Lynne
18. Barbara B
19. Amy Jo
20. Mickie
21. Janet

Thanks for stopping by, please come back tomorrow for another great project!!

 

Materials Used in this Project:

DCWV Christmas Stack  *  Stampin' Up! Ornaments & Diecut Paper   *   Making Memories Staples   *   Making Memories Scrapbook Paint   *   Oriental Trading Rub-On's   *   Baker's Twine   *   Hobby Lobby Red Lace Trim   *   Tag - Hollo's Papercrafts   *   All adhesives from Glue Dots   *

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas?? Already???


I'm not a chronological scrapper. I pick and choose my projects as I feel inspired to do them, rather than forcing myself to creating something I'm not really feeling. So therefore, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my scrap room!
It's kind of fun to get everything Christmas out when it's just starting to get cooler, leaves are feeling the urge to become a bit more gorgeous, and my mind starts to dream about everything Fall.

I tried to challenge myself a bit on this page: to not use the traditional 'Happy Christmas' color scheme. I rummaged through my paper stacks and found the Love Letter Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up!:

This set uses 'Vanilla' instead of white, 'Red Riding Hood' (which is more of a brick red) instead of bright red, and throws a twist of black in there to switch things up a bit, as well as make it a little more 'grown up'.

I played around with a layout for a few minutes (which is a few minutes too long for me!) and then dug out my Creating Keepsakes magazine from Nov/Dec 2010 for some inspiration. I turned to the article called Recipes for Quick and Easy Layouts (p. 68), thinking, HEY!. This is what I need!! Mandy Douglass' Christmas Morning layout popped out to me, and so I used the sketch of her page:

I knew my pictures didn't lend themselves to the grid design that Mandy used, so I altered that concept of the sketch on my page. I really loved the large brackets that she used, however, so those were the first thing that I began to make.

I love dimension on a page, so I knew I didn't want to use paper for the brackets. I considered chipboard, but I didn't have brackets large enough (and didn't want to cut my own). Looking around my materials, I had a stack of 8.5" x 11" pieces of felt that I'd picked up from my local hobby store when they were on sale (they were 12.5 cents each!) and knew that they would give me the 'pop' I wanted.
Being a reformed perfectionist, I went to my Cricut first and cut out a bracket at 10 1/4 inches (random, but this was the largest size it would cut on my 12" x 12" mat). I traced this twice onto my felt, and cut them out.  I sewed (very roughly) around the edges with my sewing machine to add some texture, too:

 

The next element that I made was the tag Mandy used for her journaling. I already had some journaling in mind for the overall page, so I decided to make this a journaling pocket. Again, not having anything purchased that would fit this color scheme, I dug into my scrap paper bin and pulled out a remnant piece that started as a 12" x 12" and cut it to 3" in width. I folded it unevenly so it would make a perfect pocket, used a bit of (my favorite!) walnut ink to make the colors blend a bit more, and sewed the edges together to form my pocket:

Next came my lettering, and of course, chipboard!! I knew I had some pre-glittered chipboard letters that might work with this page, but once I pulled them out, the color was just horrible with my papers.
But I wanted to use that chipboard.
So I pulled out my handy-dandy Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker from Stampin' Up! and used the feathered end to re-color the letters. I also used a darker marker to ink the chipboard's edges:

Following the basic guidelines from the sketch, I started putting my page together. I used dimensional foam adhesive to adhere the chipboard lettering, and double sided tape for the rest of the elements (I was out of Glue Dots!! Ahhh!!).
I added (and added...and added...) ribbons, rub-on's, clear stickers, brads (and added...and added...) until I came out with my finished product:

Journaling: Westin's gifts all marked with 'clues'

Journaling: I will never get over how wonderful it is to see your faces light up on Christmas morning!

2011 Tag: Inked Chipboard, Grungeboard numbers, pearl brad

(ps- although this page was listed under Quick and Easy Layouts, it was more easy than quick! It took me my normal a few hours one night and a revisit the next day for minor fixes...some old habits never die!)

I just couldn't help myself!!!

I know I said I wouldn't be posting until after the little man's birthday party tomorrow, but while I was waiting for the timer to go off while baking cakes last night, I jumped into my craft room and came up with this little ditty!

I was given a 3.5" clear cube photo block from my student at work (she thought I would actually just stick some pictures into it and call it a day!)

I started with the Green Stack from Die Cuts With a View (DCVW) and cut out 3.5" squares from my favorite pages.

I used the cardboard insert that was already inside the cube as a base for my project. I didn't want to fool with trying to adhere the pages to the clear acrylic, so this seemed like an easy option. Make sure to tape all of the loose edges of the box for stability.

At this point, all of your 3.5" papers are little scrapbook pages! Feel free to add pictures, although I went for more of an inspirational piece that I can set on my desk at work. 

Keep in mind that dimensional items will need to be adhered to the outside of the box, not actually on your pages. I ended up using a lot of rub-on's and ribbon.

I used Glue Dots to adhere things to the box (super strong hold and tiny enough to not be seen!)

Here are all of my 'pages' after I put things on them and slid the cube back into the acrylic piece (with elements adhered to the outside of the cube):

I just might see this coming as a project to a crop near you 

(well...near me!) this Fall!!

getting ideas from my head onto paper... ...transparently

I have had this page in my head for months. I knew that I had an awesome rub-on that I wanted to use for a 'mastering the stairs' layout (and truth be told, I took this picture specifically with this page in mind!!) This page is super simple to do: it's all in the transparency!! I love using them to add so much depth, detail and interest by simply laying it on your page!! Let me walk you through it.

Main materials:

• 12x12 background cardstock
• 12x12 transparency
• 4x6 picture

I used walnut ink to change the coloring of my measuring tape ribbon

I inked the edges of my cardstock and adhered my photo and ribbon using Glue Dots.

The rub-on that I intended for this project talks about having courage and 'the little engine that could'. It was a bit lengthy for the space that I had to use, so I only used the first part of it.

I love how easily this transferred to the transparency!

I switched to using chipboard lettering when I deviated from the original 'climb the hill' text of the rub-on. This image shows the back side of the transparency page. The chipboard letters were also adhered with Glue Dots: 

The last element I created was the brads to the button as an alternative to threading (and I think we all know how I feel about un-threaded buttons on layouts!!)

Finishing touches from K&Company's Poppy Seed line include the bird and the dimensional flower

Et Viola!

Your turn!! I'd love to see what you can do with a transparency!!