Mixed Media Canvas

One of my coworkers commissioned me to make a smaller version of an art piece I made for the 2012 Apricot Fiesta's art contest.  I have it hanging in my cubicle at work and she just fell in love with it.  Since then, I've looked more closely and practiced more with mixed media and art exploration with different mediums.  The canvas looks very similar but with lots of small details.

You can see my original art piece here:

 

 And here's the one I just completed:

On the first one I made, I adhered scraps of green papers. On those scraps, I inked edges, stamped images, tore edges, or just left them as is.  On the newest one, I adhered scraps of light tan/off white papers and then covered it with a watered down green paint and some random ink splotches.  I also dabbed some white circles, black lines, random background stamps (French script).  What else?  I also smudged some silver paint, red & green glitter mist and drops of blue paint.  I painted the heart base with a purple heart and stamped "LOVE" in the center.  Outlined it with a silver paint pen and a black sharpie.  Then I glued all the shades of red (again using scrap papers) to fill the heart.

The original is 16x20 and the newest one is 12x16.  They are basically the same thing but slightly different. 

All I know is my next mixed media project is going to have even more layers!  I think that's the key...layers, layers, and more layers! 

Favorite Christmas Photos

I took two incredible photos this year.  One of my kids and Gracie and the other of the nine Weatherby grandkids.  Everyone looks great in the photos and my camera is amazing!

The first photo I am entering in the Let's Scrap Challenge #178.  The rules are to use one of their sketches, I chose Sketch 3-2-11; include one of their techniques, I added mosaic tiles (#49) to the layout; scrap a family event or tradition, the annual family photo; and to include actual sewing on the layout, one of the layers is sewn in place.

Here's the original sketch:



I used the left side sketch for mine:

I love this paper pack!  I bought it for 60% off at Michaels.  It's called Homemade  Holidays by Simple Stories.  I learned how to do the multi-loop bows on the Weekly Scrapper emails that I get from the Scrapbook Expo website (LOVE).  The green label on the left side is cut with my cricut Art Philosophy and CTMH label stamp.  I had the pine needle border strip from an old swap that I was in.  The heart and white/red polka dot paper were scraps.  Everything else is from the pad.  I used five different patterned papers on this layout!

This second layout is from the My Creative Sketches challenge blog.  The original sketch:



And mine:

I used the same paper pad and used NINE different pieces of patterned paper.  The only solid cardstock I used was the black for the photo mat.  I used punched hearts, CTMH stamps for the label & title, chevrons and polaroid cameras in the left corner.  The poinsettia flower is something I had from forever ago and the "Happy Holidays" was from a Cricut cartridge that I borrowed.  Oh, and a little music note washi tape to hold the title to the page.  The snowflakes and hollies around the edges are on the base patterned paper.  Did I tell you I love that paper pack? 

Check out these challenge sites at:
My Creative Sketches
Let's Scrap

Happy Holidays!

Never a Dull Holiday

Christmas and come and gone and now it's time to get organized in the Command Center.  Before I start chatting, I want everyone to know I GOT A CAMERA FOR CHRISTMAS!  I'm so excited.  It can be both a point and shoot and I can take it off auto and manually change shutter speeds, lights, etc.  It's so awesome and so unexpected. 

I got an order for five journal books so I've been working on those since my friend would like to have them to start the new year.  

Here's a few photos of them:

I still need to put Journal, Thoughts, or something like that on the covers...

and finally...

I love the new paper pads that I'm using now.  They have the kraft covers so I don't need to cover them completely.  She wanted at least two for boys so I had to think outside the box for that.  I have others that she can choose from but wanted to make a few more so she had a good selection.

Happy Holidays from the Durham family:

I strongly believe, let me rephrase that, I know that all my children are good looking but rarely do I take a photo that all four look good.  This may be the first one in a long time that they all look good even Gracie!  I just love this photo!

49er Birthday Bash

For those of you who don't know, I just turned 49 yesterday.  And since we are San Francisco 49er fans, we all wore our fan gear for our family photo.  Even Gracie is wearing a 49er t-shirt. 

So Happy 49th to me...

Love my family!

Mantel decor

And

I'm not sure if the cardboard really looks like white-washed wood, but I think the "nails" gives it that look.

The letters are made with book print.  It's hard to tell with this photo.

I wanted to decorate our mantel since we moved here and finally overcame the procrastination monster and did it!  The JOY sign is an up cycle that you know I love to do and the "subway" art is faux made from cardboard, paint, and the cricut.  I love how they turned out!

Holiday Boutique Part I

Some photos of the Holiday Boutique we participated in on December 7th:

Overall great day!  Great event, great customers, great organizers and great vendors.

Carly and I crowned our booth "Cutest Booth" at the event.  We LOVE how our upcycled shelf looked at the corner of our booth.  The little sage chair was perfect in that spot too!

Happy Holidays!

Glitter Mountain

This has nothing to do with anything, but I was cleaning an area in the Command Center and started emptying the container that I use to store my glitter.  Ummm...if you ever hear me say, I need to buy some glitter, please slap me!

I love how my glitter collection is an assortment of vintage glitter (got that from my mom's friend) and new fine glitter as well as glitter made specifically for stamping.

One more view:

So pretty!  I realized as I snapped this photo that I also have some black and fuschia glitter but of course that's in another spot.

Right now I'm working on some 3D snowflakes and I promise I'll use lots of glitter!

Have a sparkly day!