It's Going to be a Boy

A baby shower today and the new arrival will be a boy when he greets the world in August.  I bought an entire 12 X 12 pad of paper and used one sheet of the patterned paper.  That is a very expensive piece of paper.

Thanks for stopping by.

Graduation from Nursing School

A sweet non traditional student just finished her nursing school.  She went part time because she also has a family.  During her time in school, she has also lost an aunt and uncle to cancer.  I am so glad to be celebrating with her and her family tomorrow her graduation.  Everyone is so proud of her.

This is an Art Impressions stamp.  The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set.  I thought the sentiment was perfect.

The Oldie Moldie for today was the Basic Grey paper.  I love the pretty colors in this group.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Hero Arts Thank You

I have been wanting to try the smooshed ink background.  I have not gotten to wonderful of results but I decided to use them anyway.  I used a Hero Arts stamp set on this card.  It is a two step stamp.  I added the die cut in the corner with a new Tim Holtz die.

I was trying to case a card a friend made.  Hers was so much better.

Golf Themed Birthday Card

I have a friend who's birthday is in June and he loves  to golf.  I have this wonderful impression from Art Impressions which I had actually colored quite awhile ago.  I had gessoed some dictionary pages and then heat embossed the image on the paper.  It was colored with distress inks.

Finishing up the card this morning, I found two masculine card challenges I am going to enter the card in.

Wednesday - Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog

Sunday - The Paper Players

I am so looking forward to my retirement in July.  I will be able to play with my toys so much more and be able to create to my heart's content.

Here is today's card.

This is a 5.25 inch square card.  The patterned paper is actually a winter collection from Simple Stories but I loved the colors for a masculine card.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Sunday.

What Makes You Smile

Being creative has not been happening lately.  Work has overwhelmed me but the middle of July I retire and then hopefully I will be able to create at will.

I am combining two challenge for this card.  When I saw this quote on the paper from 7 Gypsies.  When I read the quote I instantly started to smile and had a flashback to a trip in the spring with a friend to the Florida Keys.  We had the conversation on the plane but how you sometimes laugh at the most inappropriate things or times.  Well, of course, at the airport, I had a battle with the escalator and yes when I finally made it to the top, we had to laugh.  So inappropriate but that flashback made me smile and laugh.  Guess what the challenge is on Our Creative Challenge - is What Makes You Smile.

The challenge on the Mixed Media Card Challenge blog is Collage with the optional element of frame.  The focal point of the card is in a frame and there are many elements which make it collage.

I started with a piece of white chipboard and covered it with crumpled up tissue paper adhered with gel medium.  Of course you don't see too much of that layer.  I colored the tissue paper with a gelato and just blended it with my fingers.  I layered a rectangle doily on top of the colored tissue paper.  I added a strip of patterned paper which I had distressed around the edges.  I colored a strip of canvas with the same gelato and then embossed it with silver embossing paste.

I added extra color to the image with a pink and silver gelato.  I then used a glitter pen to brush some glitter in various places.  I found a silk flower in my supplies and glued that to the center of the floral image to add more dimension.  The picture was matted with grey card stock which was distressed around the edges.  I wanted  to try a product that has been hanging out in my supplies for year - silver mica flakes.  I dabbed gel medium on the edge of the image and added the flakes (it was messy).  After it had dried, I then dabbed more gel medium over the top hoping it would stop the flakes for flaking off.  UGH.  I then added a button and some twine on the the image.

I took some grey polka dot crepe paper and kinda pleated it, scrunched it and placed it on the card so it would show on two different sides of the image.  The image was pop dotted at an angle on the front.  I took some of the silver embossing paste and just rubbed it on some parts of the doily.

Here are a couple close ups of different parts of the card.

A close up of the silver embossing paste on the pink colored canvas.

Here is a close up of the upper right corner of the card.  You can see the silver flakes around the image, the crumpled tissue paper and the silver colored doily.

This card was lots of fun to make.  I actually have another card I am working on.

Mixed Media Mojo June Challenge

How did it get to be June 1 already?  May was a super busy month for me if you will notice I had very few posts on my blog.  I did do something creative which I will share this week.  I just have not had the time to post.

But June 1 means it is time for a new challenge on the Mixed Media Mojo challenge blog.

Summer can mean many things.  For me, it means flowers.  I love to watch the different flowers bloom throughout the summer.  A tealish color is one of my favorite colors in all shades so I chose to do my project in that monochromatic color scheme.

I bought two bottles of acrylic paint - a light shade and a dark shade.  I had a embossing enamel called sea glass and the teal pleated canvas trim which is along the bottom.

The tag is a Paper Smooches die.  The tag is made from painted book page.  I stamped over the tag with a background stamp with a Hero Arts teal colored ink.  The sentiment is from Dina Wakely.  I thought it was very appropriate for the new path I am taking in my life in July - retirement.

The flowers are a combination of purchased flowers and handmade flowers.  Starting on the upper right side the two little flowers were white felt which I painted.  The large flower was a book page that was painted front and back and I cut out a flower with my Silhouette and layered it together.  The polka dot flower was also cut with the Silhouette from patterned paper.  The next light teal flower was also cut with the Silhouette.  The last three flowers were in my flower stash and I just added acrylic paint to make them coordinate.

The lace trim with the polka dot paper woven through was actually cream colored.  I put the lace in a watered down acrylic paint and let it dry.

The canvas board was painted with gesso and then acrylic paint.  The floral background is a Hero Arts background stamp.  I inked it with VersaMark and used Sea Glass Enamel powder from the Rubber Cafe.  Unfortunately it did not stamp all the way across but it is amazing what the tag and flowers can cover.

The upper left corner seemed off balance so I used some scalloped die cuts.  Inked them with VersaMark and used the Sea Glass enamel on them.

I then started layering.  The tag does have a double layer of foam tape on the back so it pops up a little higher.  Luckily I had those sparkly dots in my supplies which matched perfectly and were used for flower centers and on the tag.

I really love how the canvas turned out.  I now want more of that enamel in different colors.

Come join us at Mixed Media Mojo this month and create a summer mixed media project.