Goodbye 2016

I am so ready for 2017!

I could go through the year and mention all the good & bad that happened this year, but who's got the time?!  Instead I'm going to mention my Top Five 2016 art moments.

Number Five:  Discovering Gelli Printing.  I put it off long enough, but so glad I finally jumped in.  Using this plate has given me a jumping point on many of my mixed media projects, cards and soon, scrapbooking layouts!

Number Four:  Index Card-A-Day Challenge.  I had so much fun participating in this 61 day challenge and cannot wait to do this again in 2017.  Click on the ICAD label to the right to see all of my cards and some of the projects I made with them.  Participating in this challenge broadened my capabilities and made me think outside the box.

Number Three:  WOYWW.  Discovering this blog site introduced me to some extremely creative people that welcomed me to their community.  Click on over to STAMPING GROUND to learn more about this community of artists.  You can also click on the WOYWW label to the right.

Number Two:  Bloom Arts.  Not only did this lovely lady, Lisa, encourage me to continue with my mixed media artwork, but she created a set of three stamp sets of my mixed media marks with my name on it!  It is so awesome to use the set especially since my name is on the package.  And to make it even better, they are amazing background/marking stamps that I really do use in almost every project I make.  BLOOM ARTS STAMPS

Number One:  VIDA.  There's not much better than having your designs on clothing!  I am so thankful that they found me and that I decided to GO FOR IT!  I have enhanced my own wardrobe and many of my friends and family have as well.  Some may say it's a dream come true, but honestly, it's not a dream I would have had until I saw how amazing these pieces are.  Click Here to go to my collection.  Every piece I have purchased is great quality and the colors are amazing!  And seeing your name on a label is pretty cool too!  LOL

My absolutely favorite post was the picture heavy post of my son's Engagement Party.  I had so much fun creating decorations for this celebration.  This is by far the most exciting news we had in 2016 until my other son proposed to his girlfriend in December.  So in July, 2017, we'll have one wedding and then in September, we'll start planning for another.  GOOD TIMES!

Click HERE to see this post.

Happy New Year peeps and thanks for all the looks & comments on my blog this year.  We're ready for you 2017!!

WOYWW #395

The Wednesday after Christmas...I really should be pulling the Christmas cartons out and slowly refilling them with all the decorations, but I'm on vacation!

Last night I worked on some scrapbook layouts from September.  They were pretty quick since I used pocket pages.

Since it's Wednesday I am posting my desk as part of the WOYWW blog.  Check out Stamping Ground's site for more info.  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com

I come to realize that I work best in a messy area.  At least that's what I'm going to continue to tell myself.  LOL

These layouts are from our short visit to the George Lucas office in SF.  There isn't a formal tour or anything, but they have an incredible lobby with all sorts of Star Wars statues and memorabilia.  It's pretty cool!

Merry Christmas!

Merry, merry Christmas everyone!  I still can't believe Christmas is already here.  I have so much to do in so little time but that's ok.  Thankfully I'm off work and have all day.

I always try to make at least one new decoration for Christmas.  This year, I made the wreath around the deer head.  I also made a swag for my entryway.

Best Wishes for a Peaceful and Prosperous Holiday!

The wreath was made using the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge.  The swag was made using the Art Philosophy holly leaf.  The rest was a random assortment of supplies from the Command Center.

Birthday Winner!

Well what do you know...?!  There was only one person to leave birthday wishes/comment so it was pretty easy to select a winner!  LOL

Lisa from A Mermaids Crafts is the winner!  Lisa, when you get a chance, send me an email with your mailing address and I'll send you the set of cards.  My email address is doorknocker3@yahoo.com.

Congratulations!!

Here are some photos of my family cheese-ing it up for my birthday:

I just love my family!  Those three handsome boys are mine and the cutie patootie to the right of me is my daughter.  The other two are future daughter-in-laws and granddaughter.

Check out Lisa's blog to see her amazing work!  Click HERE to get there.

Congratulations again Lisa!

Happy, Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's my birthday!  I am enjoying the many advantages of my 52 years.  Yup, that means I'm now getting hot flashes and night sweats, feeling the snap, crackle and pop of every injury I had as a youth.  Thankfully the gray hair fairy hasn't visited too much, but I'm sure he's coming soon.  LOL

My family will be taking me out to dinner tonight and then we'll come home for cake and ice cream.  I'm looking forward to that!

To celebrate my birthday, I'd love to get some birthday wishes through some comments.  Leave a comment and I'll pick a random person to win a set of handmade cards from the birthday girl.

If you want a particular set of cards (birthday, thank you, etc. ) or particular color scheme, leave that information in your comment.  I'll select a winner at the end of the day on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday to Me!

WOYWW #393

WEDNESDAY!  Hump Day and WOYWW!  To learn more about what I'm talking about check out THIS blog.  Join me and the other deskers by visiting & commenting on the links or by posting a photo of your desk as well.  It's a lot of fun and addicting!

These last few weeks have been crazy and I finally feel like I can appreciate Christmas and all the festivities that the holiday brings.  Tonight my daughter, son and I are going to see the Christmas Carol.  I'm so excited.  My son is taking a theatre class and they have to go see live performances as part of their assignments.  Which means, I get to tag along!

I've been working on small things and just finished some coworker gifts and gifts for my granddaughter's teachers.  These triangle boxes are filled with candies.  These were the last two.

And my desk:

I'm not even close to being finished for Christmas but the steps to get there sure are fun!  We've decorated (see photos) and that really is about it.

I have plenty of gifts still to purchase and of course wrapping them!  I'm not going to do any baking this year (or so she says...). 

I really wanted to do the December Daily mini album this year, but just couldn't get it all together...maybe next year.

Be sure to click on over to Stamping Ground's blog and join the Wednesday fun!

We Wish You a Mousy Christmas

These little cuties were made for one of my Holiday Boutiques.  I love all the critters on the Create-A-Critter cartridges and this one was made with the Create-a-Critter II.

The sentiment stamps was part of my House Mouse stamps collection.  The TREAT BOX pattern was found on Splitcoaststampers.  It's very easy to put together!


I know it's not a great picture, but I didn't want to take it out of the packaging.  Each treat box had a cocoa packet, a few Christmas candies, lip balm and hand lotion.


I'm entering this on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge site.  The theme is Christmas.  Click HERE to see the other entries or to link up your own project!

USE YOUR PAPER 4; Rosette Wreaths

USE YOUR PAPER!

Oh how I love these rosette wreaths!  A few years back I made quite a few of these for Halloween.  I intended to make more for Christmas, but never got the chance.  I'm sure everyone's seen a few Youtube videos or some sort of tutorial or two, here are my tips: 

1. Score the entire 12x12 sheet of paper & then cut them into strips.
2. The largest strips should be 1 3/4" at the most.  Otherwise you need more than one strip to make the rosette.  It will not lay flat.
3. When attaching the ends, clip off one "fold" so it fits best.
4. Put a puddle of hot glue on your craft mat and wiggle the rosette in the glue to adhere. (No need for a back base on the rosettes.)
5. Layer, layer & layer! 
6. Use old boxes to cut out your wreath bases.  I use a dinner plate as a template and cut the base out with scissors.  Why spend money on a wreath base when you can't see it?!
7. Thread your hanger before adhering the rosettes.  I had a hard time adding the "hanger" once the wreath was complete.  Live and learn!

I make multiple sized rosettes all at the same time.  This is a great project for long drives or watching a movie with family.  I start with the largest and place them around the base.  Then I add more to fill in.  Once I layered the rosettes, then I add buttons and other embellishments. 

This is a great way to use coordinating paper pads - they are made to coordinate and there is no color matching needed.  So how many pieces of paper did I use?  Who knows!?!  I lost count.  LOL

Now I need to add all the pretties...aka, the fun part!

Countdown to Christmas 2016: Owl Magnets

You know when you start on the internet, Pinterest, etc., you start one place but end up who knows where because you've clicked over so many times?  Well, that happened to me when I saw these cute owl magnets!  I don't remember where I saw them or who came up with this cute idea, but I'm sharing now.

Isn't he adorable?!

Each owl requires the following materials:

• One Cardboard Coffee Sleeve
• Two Googly Eyes
• Magnet
• Scissors & Hot Glue (if you don't use hot glue, any glue will work but then you'll need a rubber band as well to hold the pieces together while the glue dries)

Pull the sleeve apart to give you one long piece.  Cut off both ends to leave you with a rectangle shape (about an inch off each side).  Cut that long rectangle in half lengthwise and then in half again.  This leaves you with four long strips.

With the corrugated side on the outside, roll one of the strips into a tight circle and glue the end.  Do this with two of the strips to make two eyes.  Put them aside.

The remaining two strips, roll into a tight circle and adhere.  Glue the second strip continuing on the same circle to make a slightly larger rolled circle.  This is the body.

Glue the eyes to the top of the body. 

With the remaining pieces, cut out two teardrop shaped pieces for the wings.  Then cut out two skinny wonky triangles for the eyebrows and one triangle for the beak.  See the photo for a visual.

Glue everything onto the owl base and then add googly eyes and a magnet strip to the back.

I added a punched heart, but wouldn't it look adorable with a scarf?  I left mine pretty basic, but you could draw ruffles on the wings or turn the cardboard around so the sleeve printing is on the outside.  That would be great with a colored or designed sleeve.  Get creative - Make it your own!  After all that's what we do!

I'm bringing my bag of supplies to work to have a Craft Day at work.  My coworkers love it when I do these.

My coworker made glasses out of a paper clip and glued them on.  Clever!

Another one went outside to find a twig to attach to the bottom.  Cute!

With all the lessons, I ended up making four for myself.

Dear Santa, We Can Explain

HA HA!  I love this quote!

I made this to display on the faux fireplace/mantel for my work's cubicle decorating contest.

I'm entering this on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Challenge #291 (Christmas) as well as the  BBTB2 challenge site (Christmas Words).  Click to the sites to see all the challenges and projects.

Cricut Cartridges I used:
Sign Base:  Joys of the Season
Fonts:  Artbooking (Dear Santa) and Plantin Schoolbook (all others)
Curly cues:  Artbooking

I added some glitter along the star and swirls but other than that not much more.  The words are definitely the focal point on this project.  So fun!

Take a peek at our office all dressed up for Christmas.  Everyone went completely overboard on decorating this year.  This NEVER happens!  It's going to be hard to pick a winner and tough going back to boring cubicles.  Mine is the fireplace scene.

ICAD Wall Art

Remember all those index cards I made for the ICAD 2016 61 day challenge?  I finally got around to framing some of them. 

This is hanging proudly in my bedroom.

Home Sweet Home

I feel wonderful!  I've been spending more time in the Command Center and feel so de-stressed!  I follow the blog of  ALISA BURKE for some time because I absolutely LOVE her work and she has the greatest inspiring posts.  I won a class from her (Yeah, I was so excited I screamed!) by commenting on her post and was randomly selected.  The class is called "Hoop It".  She has some tips and suggestions for making art within an embroidery hoop.  Funny thing is I've been wanting to do it for sometime now but didn't want to actually embroider.  Who would have thought to actually paint instead?!  Not me.  This weekend, I decided to go for it.

I grabbed three colors of acrylic paint (you know that's how I always start a project) and just started putting down some paint.  I knew I was going with the simple and classic "Home Sweet Home", but after that, who knew?

After applying swishes of the three colors (golden sunset, navy blue, brick red), I felt it needed more colors.  So I added Christmas green and lemon yellow.  Once it dried, I used my paint brush to write the words and instantly regretted it.  UGH!  My letters were horrible!

No need to panic, I just applied more black paint over the letters and covered it.  For some reason, I decided to spritz some black glimmer mist.  Too dark...Out came the white paint.  I love when art is just a work in progress!  I let this dry overnight and then used a white paint pen to write the words again - so much better.

DONE - or so I thought.  I knew it needed something, but what?  I thought I'd draw some flowers or make some but remembered I have this big container of paper flowers.  I rarely use 3D flowers in my work.  Even though it didn't fall under the same color scheme, I wanted a very light rose/pink.

The little cutie patootie girl on the button caught my eye as it's attached to a string of other buttons near my desk lamp.  Glued all these puppies on and woowzers!  I love it!

It's displayed proudly on my downstairs ART WALL.

Click on over to Alisa's blog and take a peek at her work and classes.  This one is only $15 and well worth it.  I have another hoop (much larger) that I'll do something with next.  Her class gave me the little push I needed to get started:

This hoop is about 6" in diameter.  It's small but packs a big punch!

More:

I love the variations of flowers and randomness of the background!  Give it a try!