Monday, July 31, 2017

ICADs 2017 Week Three

Week Three - still going strong!
Prompts in order: starburst, rainbow, sprout, alphabetize, gear or gadget, yin/yang, and simplicity
The ICADs:

I made the first four at work with very limited supplies. I enjoyed cutting out words and phrases out of magazines. I need to do that more often because it's free art supplies!

My favorite this week is ICAD #17 Sprout. I covered the index card with some scrap paper at work, scribbled some markers (on my desk) and added water drops. Then dragged the card over it. Then I drew the "sprouts". Very simple. I'm not really sure about the second card, but hey, it's about experimenting, fun and using what you have available.


Friday, July 28, 2017

TGIF; Thankful Friday 2

Happy Friday everyone! Did you have a great week?


This week I am especially thankful for the staff at UCSF Mission Bay Medical Center. My oldest son had surgery on Monday and they were wonderful. He has regular surgeries since 1986. He has a reoccurring medical condition that needs constant care. Thankfully it's nothing life threatening (as long as we continue treatment) nor disabling, but it still takes a toll on him. I don't want to get into the long story for this particular surgery, but basically THANK YOU to his doctor and her staff.  You have no idea how much we appreciate what you have done for him...for us.



This week:
I'm still participating in the daily ICAD challenge. I'm also catching up on my scrapbooking. Payday is coming up and I'm always thankful for this day! We saw two different live bands over the weekend and danced a lot!







I got to spend unexpected time with two of my sisters. It was so much fun laughing and acting silly.
I'm on Book #13 in our annual Summer Reading Marathon and Carly is right on my tail.


Please comment on what you're thankful for this week.  I look forward to hearing all about it!

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

WOYWW #425

Wednesday, you silly rascal, you rolled up way too soon this week!  Can you believe we're already on Hump Day?!  I mean part of me is like, woo hoo but the other part is slow down!


Check out my desk.  I actually cleaned up after myself last night so it doesn't look like much is going on.

Click on over to the Stamping Ground to visit other desks and join in as well.  We all like to take peeks into each other's work areas whether it's a table in the corner or an entire studio.


I just realized that it's pretty sad that I think this is cleaned.  Well, as long as I have a clear space to work, I say it's clean!  Have a great week!



Monday, July 24, 2017

ICADS 2017 Week Two

Ok, I have to admit, I'm already struggling to get these done. I'm not sure how being that I just started...but maybe that's the reason why???  LOL

Here are my ICADs for Week Two:









The prompts were: paint chips, ombré, sunshine yellow, (some kind of triangle), wings, echo/repeat, leaf.

My favorite is the dream catcher one.  This one was a random card.  I just couldn't get in the groove.  I doodled, I painted, I added stickers and paper but hated it.  I put white gesso over everything and then I saw it. The hoop of a dream catcher!!  To me, the triangles looked like lace.

Click on over to this site https://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/index-card-a-day-2017-index to get the daily prompts and join the fun!






Friday, July 21, 2017

TGIF; Thankful Friday

I've been thinking about doing a weekly series of posts, but nothing really spoke to me. I decided to start with this series: TGIF; Thankful Friday. I love the quote, "There's Always, Always Something To Be Thankful For". So even if it's not obvious, I want everyone to share what they are thankful for each week.


I am truly blessed. By God's grace, He continues to bless my family. I'm not always obedient in my faith, I am not the most generous with my time/money for others, and I surely cuss...a lot, but God continues to bless me and my family and for that I am truly grateful.


This week I am thankful for my scrapbooking/creative friends. I was low on some materials I needed to complete a project so I posted on our FB group page if anyone had some that I could buy/trade or just have. I received so many responses - I love that crafters are always willing to share our goods. Is that why we hoard so much of it? I think the answer is sure, whatever you have to say to justify the mountains of goods we have in our craft rooms/areas.


Weekly Recap:
This week... I'm working on week two of the ICAD challenge. Which means I spend at least 15 minutes each day creating on an index card. I'm also finishing up my sets for a Disney Character Swap on splitcoaststampers. I haven't participated in swaps in a long time and since I used most of my Disney embellishments, I knew it was time to start again.


Hubby and I also had a funeral on a dear friend's mother this week. The service was beautiful and represented the love for this beautiful woman. RIP Mary.


I started Sewing School for my granddaughter this week. Be on the look out for posts on this!


We had three birthdays this week. My mother-in-law, nephew and a dear friend (who I always remind that she's six months older than me). 
Please leave a comment on one thing you're thankful for this week in the comments. I can't wait to read them!





Wednesday, July 19, 2017

WOYWW #424

Happy Wednesday!  Click on over to Stamping Ground to visit more desks and read all about the WOYWW link.


Last night my granddaughter came over for Sewing School. I promised her that I'd teach her after the wedding.


What do I know about teaching someone to sew?...not a whole lot. I showed her where the needle is and where NOT to put your fingers. Explained about the foot pedal and that she couldn't use the machine without me - blah blah blah - safety safety safety. She was already bored at that point and ready to make something! 


I don't really sew much anymore and I gave away all of my fabric collection a long time ago to my sister. Luckily, I had some fabric & batting scraps. We sewed some random scraps together so she could get the hang of the machine. She picked up pretty quickly and we eventually made two pillows; one for her Barbie and another one for her cat.  LOL


Tonight we'll go to the local fabric store to buy some material. She wants to make a blanket for her cat, a skirt, and a big pillow. As a matter of fact, the first thing she said to me last night was, "I want to make a skirt". I just responded, "OK".


I was so busy sitting with her that I didn't take a photo. I'll have to ask my DIL to take one tonight. This photo is from the weekend. She's showing off her lost teeth.


Lost her first tooth & got two for one!
Another story:
When my daughter was young, she would spend two weeks in the summer with my parents. My mother is a seamstress and sewing is her life. While Carly was there, my mom would invite some of her cousins and have Sewing School. Carly absolutely hated it! Apparently my mom was super strict and a perfectionist with the girls. Carly made some really cute things for me and her aunties for Christmas but she did not enjoy sewing at all. It's an inside joke now but hey, she did learn to sew!


About five years ago, my niece wanted to learn to sew and my mom found my old Singer Junior Miss machine. I love that machine! After my niece was done with it, my sis gave it back to me. I pulled it out so LeAnna could use it, but unfortunately the batteries were already dead and the plug wasn't in the box. (I got this photo from the internet) We'll get it going so LeAnna can sew next to me. It may be awhile, she needs to get the hang of actually sewing, but I'm sure she'll catch on quickly. She loves this kind of stuff! She's my mini-me.


Don't forget to click on over to Stamping Ground and take a peek into other craft spaces.

Monday, July 17, 2017

ICADs 2017 Week One

I'm back at it!  Year #Two of ICADs.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, click on over to the Daisy Yellow Art site to get details and the prompts.  Technically, the ICAD challenge starts on June 1st - July 31st, but you can start anytime.  The challenge is to create art for 61 consecutive days.  Obviously, there are no strict rules.  You don't even have to stick to the prompts. 
Here are my cards in order:

#1 Sunset
#2 Lost and/or Found; I found this image on a flyer.
#3 Vintage; I didn't like this originally, but kept at it until I did.

#4 Lavender; I know these are violets - oops! But hey still purple!
#5 I didn't follow the prompt.

#6 Didn't follow the prompt again.
#7 I'm a rebel!  LOL


#3 Stamp gifted from Rubber Paws; hand drawn border on old dictionary page & cut out
#4 Violets are a digi stamp from Bloom Art Stamps; background is a gelli monoprint & some added marks.
#5 Gellatos and a black paint pen
#6 This is a stamp that I won during a Unity Stamp Co. Facebook Live event.  Words from Tim Holtz pad.
#7 I love using gesso to cover up a layer when you're not happy with it.  That was the case here. Black swirl stamp is from Bloom Art Stamps Doodle stamps.




*ICAD = Index Card A Day

Saturday, July 15, 2017

CWS Mid Month Inspiration #16

It's not too late to link a card on Creative With Stamps challenge site for July.

The challenge this month is CELEBRATE. There are so many reasons to celebrate all year long so this one was pretty easy for me. My son's wedding was last week (so much fun!) but believe it or not, we have another family wedding today. My friends and family will be insulted if I gave a store bought card so I had to make one for the wedding.

I started this card by swiping two shades of pink ink (CTMH) onto my craft sheet. Spritzed with water and then placed the white cardstock over to absorb some color. Move it around to mix it up. Once dried, I stamped the twig heart/birds image (Rubber Paws) and then the sentiment (Stampin' Up!) in the middle.

I used a variety of markers to color the images. I added black dots here and there to add a little something to it. I layered in onto gold cardstock before adhering to the card base.

Now it's your turn!  If you haven't already, click on over to CWS to join the challenge and your chance to win four images from Bugaboo Stamps of your choice. 

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

WOYWW #423 (My number is off again!)

Hello Wednesday Peeps!  I hope you had the chance to check out some work areas on the WOYWW linkage.  Click on over to Stamping Ground to take a peek.


I'm still recovering from my son's wedding and the road trip to Las Vegas.  My desk looks the same as when I left it, so I decided to post a few of my favorite photos of the wedding.
Ladies getting ready!







Have a great week and don't forget to click on over HERE to read more about WOYWW and take a peek in other craft rooms/areas/desks.  Until next week...

Monday, July 10, 2017

FCCB Challenge #305; Birthday

 Happy Monday and welcome to another FCCB Monday challenge!  Be sure to add your project to the link up!



Challenge #305-Birthdays
Make a project about anything to do with birthdays.


This Weeks Sponsor

And the prize is-



To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used. If you use a Cricut Explore machine, at least one cut must be from the Cricut catalog of images.

If it isn't a card, you will get two entries into the drawing!


Here is my project-
I made a couple of birthday cards since I had the products out.  On the soccer card, I added a punched star and on the baseball card, I added a 3D birthday hat sticker.  I thought it was hilarious to add to the ball.





For both cards, I used the Sports Mania Cricut Cartridge for the balls and the grass border strips.  The background was stamped with a crossword puzzle stamp I purchased from Stampin' Up years ago. 


Be sure to click on over to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB) to be inspired by our DT Members and linked projects.  Join the challenge for a chance to win prizes. 

post signature

Friday, July 7, 2017

All You Need Is Love

This is a scheduled post since I'm in Vegas and today is my son's wedding day!  In honor of the wedding and all the love in the air, I created this canvas.
This canvas is a Design Team project for Bloom Art Stamps. 
I haven't worked on a canvas in a long time, so I thought I'd do one this week. I bought a couple of these 5x5 canvases a long time ago and I finally decided to use one.

All You Need Is Love
The details:


I actually remembered to take photos of each step.  I'm so proud of myself LOL.  So here you go:
1.  First I chose three colors to work with - teal, lt. green and pink.  Then I gathered different mediums of these colors to work with.  (many times I don't use all the mediums selected)
2.  I painted a light coat of water on top of the canvas before dripping teal re-inker all over the canvas.  Once it started moving around a bit (because of the water), I blotted it with a paper towel.

3.  I mixed the lt. green acrylic paint with some clear texture paste and applied with a spatula over a stencil.


4.  I tore a piece of paper out of an old poem book and adhered it to the bottom left of the canvas and smeared some left over paint over it to blend it in some.
5.  I used the starburst image from the Bloom Art Element Set #2 stamps and gold paint to stamp all over the canvas.
6.  I spritzed some pink distress ink spray on the canvas.  In some areas, I let it drip a little.
7.  BTW, I'm applying all the left over ink, paint, etc., on a page in my art journal for a future project.  Here's what that looks like so far:
8.  Next I stamped more marks around the canvas using the same Bloom Art Stamps Elements #2 Set.  Do I need to remind you that this set is designed by me?  I use these stamps all the time and just love them!

I used the starburst, both bubble wraps, the group of random marks and the smaller double circle images for this project using black & white ink pads, white and gold acrylic paints.
9.  I cut a heart out of scrap paper and adhered to the center of the canvas. Looking good!!
10.  Created a shadow by drawing around the heart with a black Stabilo pencil and smearing with both my finger and a waterbrush.  Then stamped the random marks on the heart with white ink.
11.  I thought I was done but decided to stamp "All You Need Is Love" on the lower right corner.  Originally I wanted a clear impression but when I placed it on the canvas it smeared so I kept on stamping in that area to make it look like I did it on purpose.  LOL  Did it work?

12.  To finish the piece, I ran my black archival ink pad along the upper right corner and off stamped the sentiment in the upper center as well.  Then I shook up my Heidi Swapp gold ink spray a lot before splattering all over the canvas.


I didn't take a photo of the back, but I did stamp a full impression of the sentiment since that is what I named the piece.


I hope you enjoyed the step by step process of the canvas.  To purchase the Elements #2 Set, click on over to Bloom Art Stamps.  I also designed two other sets which I love as well.  I tried to focus on using just one of the sets for this project.