TGIF; Thankful Friday #320

Happy Thankful Friday! This has been a busy, busy week. We had two promotion ceremonies, a holiday and it's the start of our annual Summer Reading Marathon!

This week I'm thankful for celebrations. We certainly need things to celebrate and I'm so glad we are the type of family that does just that...celebrate!

What are you thankful for this week? Please share in the comments.

Let's Get Messy May Final Project

I hope you had a chance to get messy this May. I know I did and I completed five spreads in my Junk Journal! I hope to continue creating in there on a regular basis.

This is the last project for this Let's Get Messy series and it may be my favorite. I love all the different products I used to create lots of dimension on these quirky flowers.

Joy and pain is like sunshine and rain. One of my favorite song lyrics and I wanted to include it on this spread. Life is joy and pain - it’s so true!

Products Used:  watercolor paints, Ranger crayons, chalk pencils, black and white paint pens, markers and a regular pencil.

The aftermath!

Be sure to check back and watch the other process videos and posts if you missed any of these.

Just Keep Swimming Layout

You know I don't normally create one photo scrapbook layouts but this one was the only single photo and my granddaughter looks so cute I didn't want to add it to a Month In Review layout.

The theme for that year's recital was Disney and her costume is Finding Nemo. I didn't have any Nemo embellishments so I went searching in Cricut Design Space and found a clown fish and whatever type of fish Dory is.

I think they are so cute and worked out perfectly for this layout! I decided to use "Just Keep Swimming" as the layout title. As you can see, I used letter stickers for part and used my Cricut to create a ombre layered word.

Check out the YouTube video to see how I created this layered title and how easy it is to create your own.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #319

Happy Friday and Happy Thankful Friday! My daughter and I have been organizing the closet in the Command Center and it's been a lot. The good thing is that we're taking our time. Is it a good thing? I don't know. LOL

This week I'm thankful for the amount of crafting supplies and materials that we have. There is definitely no shortage of them in our craft room. Many of these supplies were purchased but a lot were gifted. With that in mind, I'm planning on gifting a lot of these supplies.

That is another thing to be thankful for...crafters love to share their goodies. There's always a Trash/Treasure pile when you go to crops & other events and this is a perfect time to share.

Here is a little before & after of the right side of the closet. I should have took better before photos because it was so messy and unorganized! Things were basically just thrown in there especially at the bottom.

Yes, we pulled everything out!

Most things went back to where they were, but now the papers are in order, one less paper holder on the bottom and items were bagged or placed in containers.

What are you thankful for this week? Let me know in the comments!

Let’s Get Messy May; Episode 4

Is May already halfway done? Time flies! It’s Thursday and it’s May so it’s time for another project in my Junk Journal!

The first three journal spreads involved flowers/leaves so I figured why not continue that.

I basically colored in this black/white piece of paper which covered a ream of copy paper. I grab it every time we open one in my office! Once the coloring was complete, I added marks, paper pieces and tried to make it into something I liked.

That beautiful tile looking piece on the top left was from a cardboard packaging for hand soap. My  mom bought a set from Costco and the packaging was so beautiful! I had to make copies of them (you may see these later) and also, tried to remove the top layer on the actual box.

I used Pinterest for quotes and found this one to be perfect for my life right now. I used a white pen and my own handwriting for this one.

Be sure to watch the YouTube process video and come back next Thursday for the final junk journal spread of this Let's Get Messy May series.

Printable Cuttable Creatables Spring Hop

Woo Hoo! I love participating in hops and this one is a good one! If you have a Cricut and love cute SVG cut files, you need to check out Printable Cuttable Creatables' website. I used the Graduation Gnome SVG for my project today.

My granddaughter is graduating from Eighth Grade this month and this cute gnomie is perfect for a cute cake topper.

One thing I'm always going to do when I make cake toppers is add dimension. Once I lay down all the pieces, I get a better look at where to add extra dimension. And for this image, I added some on the shoes, sleeves and of course his cute nose!

A little bit of white ink pen highlights never hurts either! Check out my YouTube process video to see how easy it was to put together:

Be sure to hop along start HERE to find all the goodies!  And links to other blogs or YouTube channels and leave comments. There are prizes, inspiration and free SVGs so be sure to hop along with us!

• Morena
• Ellen
• Dorlene
• Christi
• Linh
• Monica

Thanks again for dropping by! Don’t forget to stock up on designs at 50% Off during my Birthday Sale through May 27th!

Bonus: If you use 3SONS15 coupon code, you'll get 15% off your purchase after the 27th!

Trash to Treasure Fun Projects

I took a week off from work and finished a bunch of projects that have been sitting there staring at me for far too long. Both of these have shorts on my YouTube channel if you're interested in seeing them in action. These are the before and after pictures.

One of my favorite things to do is to make treasure out of trash (or not quite trash, but ugly). When DD and I decided to redo and organize the Command Center, she removed this side table from under her desk. It's pretty solid wood but as you can see...kinda boring!

I used my Cricut to cut stencils and acrylic paints to change the look. Don't you love it? It looks perfect on our front porch especially with those faux grout lines (that was an afterthought).

The second project came from my home. I was (sort of) gifted this coaster set, but it is way too foo foo for us. I mean FAMILY speed out as "Father And Mother I Love You"...a little lame don't you think? I covered them in white acrylic paint and then sanded them down to get a smooth finish.

I then used E6000 to adhere some cheap, throwaway drink coasters of different craft beer places and/or restaurants that I had in my collection. Once they dried, I added a thin layer of polycrylic glaze over the top of each one. This is perfect for our backyard patio and it came in this cute wire holder.

I'm working on another project which involves another furniture updo. I bought this table at Goodwill for $4.79. We're looking for a side table for our backyard covered porch. Once it's sanded down, I plan on using black paint to cover it and then emulating a vinyl record on top. I can't wait to see the final result!

You can see the final result on my IG account. I always post photos there!

Find me @3sons_and_astar

TGIF; Thankful Friday 318

This week has been a hard one but I am thankful for DS2’s visit. He came home for Mother’s Day and for the week. 

I treated myself to a new Cricut and having a week off my 9-5 was a blessing!

It was tough knowing I was getting one less Mother’s Day greeting but my daughter in law sent a beautiful message and it was much needed. 

I’ve never been a Material Girl but I have to admit, it was nice to be spoiled for Mother’s Day. New shoes, a new purse plus beautiful flowers! But most importantly that we spent the day together. 

Iron Crafter Challenge YT Hop; Scraps

When I saw the Iron Crafter Challenge Hop product for May, I knew I had to join. The product to use is SCRAPS. Yeah, I have a lot of those!

I decided to create a grid layout for this challenge with all kinds of fun embellishments forming a “L” on the left side and bottom of the layout.

I’ve never did this before and I really like how this turned out.

YouTube Hop Info:

ironcrafterchallenge  #embellishments #scrapbooking #useyourstash

Join a fun group of crafty peeps each month as we take on the Iron Crafter Challenge! Each month Anna from @piececraftlove or Tara from @thepapersnob will select a challenge ingredient to use on a layout. This hop goes live on the THIRD FRIDAY of the month. We will have a hop on YouTube and Instagram to show how we used the challenge ingredient(s) for the month. The mystery item for the month will be announced on the first of each month.

The mystery challenge ingredient for May is SCRAPS! 

Here is a playlist with ALL the videos of the participants:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCfSqErOPJoq6rKU2ofkU2EvVyPfrmV9u

If you want to learn about the mystery item and play along, come over to the Piece Craft Love Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/piececraftloveclubhouse

Here is a list of the folks playing along, please check out their Instagram or YouTube channels to subscribe and say hi!!

YouTube:

Tara https://www.youtube.com/@thepapersnob

Christine https://www.youtube.com/@ScrappingHarden

Dorlene https://youtube.com/@dorlenedurham?si=WqwXB6bkl5BMoyeE

Ashley  https://youtube.com/@thescrappingnerd3566

Shannon https://youtube.com/@creativechaosintn?si=QjePZeA5GML_sEGG

Misty youtube.com/@craftysoupvideo

Janet 

Briana https://youtube.com/@lovemylifeonpaper?si=G_O7VGprDL9ditjd

Instagram:

Brandi Jo: https://instagram.com/scrappy.boymama

Simera https://instagram.com/scrappysimi

Laurie https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/

DawnLyn https://www.instagram.com/dawnlynsdesigns/

Tina https://www.instagram.com/tinamcmmvr/

Let's Get Messy May; Episode Three

It's Thursday and it's May so it must be time to get messy! I hope you've been joining me on my Let's Get Messy May adventure. I made a new Junk Journal using a Little Golden Book and am using this series to finally get in there and do some art!

Since it's May, I decided to make lots of flowers in this week's post. I know all the rain we had in April is bringing these flowers in May, but my garden is looking pretty good lately. I'm trying to mimic the blooms but since I love a good abstract, these are really more about the colors than real flowers.

This spread started on the inside of a large envelope. I didn’t do anything with the opening for now but it’ll be fun working that opening in a future spread!

Lots of mark making on this one and I love it! Watch the process:

Enjoy!

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don't miss any of these videos.

SNS Layout Sketch #297

I've got a fun layout for you today based off a sketch from Sketch n Scrap. I'm using sketch #297. It's Sketch n Scrap's birthday month this May so head over to their blog and/or FaceBook page for lots of fun challenges and sketches. Each month they post two challenges for cards and two for one page layouts. In May, to honor their birthday month, there will be bringing back older sketches but with a twist! Be sure to check them out.

This is one of the regular monthly sketches for May:

When I saw the stars, I instantly thought of the softball photos of my oldest granddaughter. I used paper and some stickers from a Photo Play paper kit and the die cuts are from a softball layout kit from Out On A Limb Scrapbooking.

The softball patterned paper was cut at 4" strips and that's pretty much all I did extra to this layout besides assemble the die cuts. 

I also stretched this into a double page spread and repeating the sketch on the right side. Be sure to check out the process video here:

I love the bright red & yellow colors and the hearts & stars are so perfect for it too!

Birthday Bash Challenge #4; Sketch n Scrap

Sketch n Scrap is celebrating its birthday this May with lots of challenges, sketches and sketches with twists! I got to chose the layout sketch with a twist for this challenge. 

Here's the sketch:

And the twist:  MONOCHROMATIC

Here's my layout:

I started by searching for yellow patterned papers. I need to find different sized patterns so it was easier on the eyes. Next, I used the Cricut to cut a 10.75" circle with one patterned paper and a 2.5" strip of another. I only had three photos of the girls dying eggs so I included a 3x4 card for the fourth "photo".

Some Easter stickers, cute title, yellow ink & splatter make this layout super cute and actually pretty easy to put together.

Be sure to join the BIRTHDAY fun at the Sketch n Scrap challenge site either on their blog or Facebook page. There are lots of older sketches but with twists! So fun!