Come Ride With Me - Berry71Bleu Guest Designer

I'm so excited to be guest designing for Berry71Bleu today!  I'm joining in on Marilyn's Summer Challenge featuring beautiful 7 Dots Studio papers and Jacquard products.  So here is my spin of this fun challenge:

This month's challenge is all about sharing what you like to do best during summer.  During the summer months we like to travel as much as possible but it's usually really hard for my husband to get away.  So last we year we went on several smaller roads and this place was my son's very favorite place.  We road those boardwalk rides night after night til we left.

For this layout, I started out with a plain white sheet of cardstock.  I doodled around both the top and bottom edges with Jacquard Clear 3-D Lumiere.  Then I added a little Vintage Photo Distress ink to help bring out the doodles.  

To add texture I started my layers off with cream colored burlap.  After that, I inserted gorgeous 7 Dots Studios Hopefully paper dusted with Micropearl Pearl Ex pigment powder.  I used white Dylusions ink to bind the Pearl Ex pigment powder.  The micropearl pigment works to soften the paper's color and add an elegant shimmer.

I matted the photo with vintage papers and a script tag from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  For my title, I simply wrote out "Ride" with India Ink on white cardstock and cut it out.  The rest of my title is written directly on the vintage papers.

To finish off my layout I added various flowers from my stash, a little bling and tiny butterflies for an added touch of whimsy. 

Thank you so much for joining me today!  I hope I've inspired to join in on this month's Berry71Bleu challenge and I'd like to invite over to Zeus and Zoe.  We have a fun June Challenge: My Favorite Things going on as we speak.   So come on over and join the fun!!  

Have a Beautiful Day!

Art Journal

Happy Monday!!  I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day and weekend.  Today I thought I'd share an art journal page that I completed at the Great American Scrapbook Show in Arlington.  During the show I demoed a lot of products so I have a ton of pages in my art journal filled with beautiful colors.  While I was there I decided to take one of those pages and actually complete an art journal page with the supplies I had on hand.  So this is what I came up with:

The base of the page is made up of various Lindy's inks.  Then I layered Pink Paislee papers on top.

Even this photo is off of a Pink Paislee sheet.  The gorgeous hand dyed ribbons were part of the items Paper Wings had for sale at the show.

This gorgeous chippie is by Blue Fern.  This is the pole that the bird cage is meant to hang off of but I like to beak up the chippies and use them in different ways.  So I used this one to visually ground the focal image.

This is the Blue Fern bird cage.  I sprayed it with several Tattered Angels and Lindy's sprays to create this look.  I even used some Goosebumps texture spray and I have to say, I love the way it turned out.  I really like the contrast of the turquoise against all of the muted colors.

Here's one last look at the completed page ;D

Thanks so much for joining me today!!  Have a wonderful day!!! 

Create Happiness - Art Journal Page

Hello my sweet bloggie friends!  I'm back with you today to share my second Zeus and Zoe project featuring the beautiful products from this month's sponsors Donna Salazar and Couture Creations.  

I was inspired to art journal by the Donna Salazar dictionary pages so I chose to highlight: artistic, journal and happy.

I like to use my excess inks and paints in my art journal so that nothing goes to waste.  So I flipped through my art journal and found this page filled with the over sprays of a previous project.  Next I dug through my Zeus and Zoe kit and found an unfinished page that never made it onto another project along with jump rings and it hit me!  Create an art journal page within an art journal page, does that make sense, lol?  I punched holes on my art journal page and the mini album page I found then connected them with the jump rings, easy peasy right?!

Then I began by adhering torn and inked strips of Donna Salazar papers from the Natural Beauty collection.

Once I figured out the basic design, I focused on adding the layers of inks and paints to grunge it up a bit and give it my "Norma twist" ;D.  I used a doily stencil with an acrylic dauber to create texture.  I really like the way the acrylic paint puffed up.  This allowed the inks to really get in those groves to help define the shape.

With all the stencil work done, I started layering more of Donna Salazar's Natural Beauty papers and even ran some through my sewing machine.   I used a beautiful flowing vine stitch, distressed and inked all of the edges.  Next I added the dictionary strips that I wanted to use.  I highlighted the edges with fluid acrylic using my finger then outlined the entire strip with a black pen.  I created a small banner using the Donna Salazar Natural Beauty die cut pieces.  To give them a little more presence in my design, I glued them on some of the paper and cut around them leaving about a 1/4" border.  Then I added the Natural Beauty Chipboard Alphas with a little pen work to make them pop.

For the insert, I focused on journaling about why I love to art journal.  I wrote:

"These pages are so much more to me than a place to learn through my creative play.  

They see me through the darkest days.  With each layer, the troubles of the day fade away and I'm transported to my happy place."

This is so true for me, my art journal gives me wings to soar above whatever challenges I might be facing.  I truly believe in the the healing power of art.  Being creative has a wonderful way of lifting the soul and one of the beautiful things about art journaling is that it can be done with no expectations or pressure.  You don't have to worry about incorporating a photo or story.  All you have to do is play, let the page become whatever it wants to be.  If you don't like the way it's turning out, just keep going.  Add another layer of paper, ink or paint; whatever you want until you feel that smile on your face and twinkle in your eye.  You know the feeling you get when you're so happy with what you've just created.

For the cover, I used a page from a mini album that I received in my Zeus and Zoe kit.  It already had paint and stencil work on it from before.  I was gonna use it on a layout but ended up leaving it off.  So all I needed to do was add some of Donna's Natural Beauty paper, a little more stenciling and chipboard alphas.

To finish off my pages, I added some doodle work, strips of torn fabric and cording from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  I also added the key and hanging sign Couture Creations dies.  I love the grungy feel of these art journal pages and the bonus mini page tucked in.  If you've never art journaled before, I encourage you to give a try.  Just remember to have fun and JUST PLAY!!  It's also a wonderful way to use up all those scraps, odd letters and embellishments you have laying around.  Well I hope I've inspired you to give art journaling a try!!

Oh and don't forget to enter this month's challenge: My Favorite Things!!!  There are wonderful prizes up for grabs including this autographed kit from Donna Salazar, so get to craftin peeps!!

The Main Prize

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.

Also included in the Random Winner Prize Pack is this 6x6 paper pack from Donna Salazar:

Thanks for joining me today and have a BEAUTIFUL, INSPIRED day!!!

Summer Fun Blog Hop Winner!!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!!  I hope your summer is off to a great start!!  Things have really been hopping around here.  Monday was my little guy's b-day and his friend is here visiting for a week from Arkansas.  So we are having a blast :D  I wanna thank everyone who joined us for the Paper Wings Productions Summer Fun blog hop last Friday.  We really appreciate you joining us and leaving us such kind comments.  So how bout we give away that blog candy?!

The winner of my blog candy is the lovely (drum roll please):

    Fleursbydesign June 7, 2013 at 10:52 AM - Love the colors and the netting, so,pretty :)

Fleur, please email me your address at: artist.normagomez@yahoo.com or pm me on Facebook so I can get these goodies out to you.

Thanks again everyone and be sure to stop by tomorrow to check out my latest art journal page!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

Summer Fun - Paper Wings Productions DT Blog Hop

WELCOME to the “Summer Fun” Paper Wing Production's Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway! If you've arrived here from Amber's Blog, then you're in the right place. If you’re just stopping by for a visit, I’d love for you to check out our hop. Please CLICK HERE to start from the beginning.

This month we’re sharing some “summer fun” themed projects. So sit back and enjoy a little Paper Wings Productions summer inspiration! Oh and let’s not forget about the blog candy!! This month we’re giving away a gift certificate to the Paper Wings Production’s online store AND there will be some blog candy along the way!! In fact, I have some blog candy for you ;D but I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

For a chance to win, all you need to do is: be a follower of the Paper Wings Productions blog, The Aviary. Visit each of the participating designer's blogs and leave them some love. Then go back to The Aviary and leave a comment letting them you completed the hop. To increase your chances of winning, like the Paper Wings Productions Facebook page and/or invite your friends to the hop. Then just come back and let us know! Be sure to leave a separate comment for each of the additional entries. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, June 11th, 2013 on the Paper Wings Productions blog.

I'm sooooo happy that summer has started, let me tell you!  Summer just happens to be my favorite time of the year because it means trips to the beach, river and lake.  We're so blessed to live within driving distance to each with the beach being the furthest.  It's only about 2-3 hours from us so it's not too bad either.  

So anyway, this month I decided to art journal with my June Nesting Components kit.  I started out by inking my journal with Dylusions inks and I adhered some produce netting to it.

I used one of the beautiful clip art images and some of the Hope Chest journaling labels.  I doodled around the edges of the strips and colored in the clip art.

I found this gorgeous starfish necklace at a garage sale.  All I did to it was glue it on and weave some jute twine in.

I  also used some of the Hope Chest 6x6 paper and some K&Company die cuts.

Okay, so I know you want to know about that blog candy right!  I'm giving away a set of Pink Paislee  Cottage Farms press ons and the PWP Cloudy Stamp set to one lucky follower.  In order to win, you'll need to 

1) be a follower of my blog & the PWP blog

2) Comment of each of the participating blogs.

Easy,right?!  Here's a look at the prizes:

Thanks so much for joining me & don't forget to head on over to Dana's next!!

***Here is the complete line up***

Shay - www.verdigrishall.blogspot.com
Carrie Avery - www.carrieavery.com
Tara Chaussee - http://secretbeesstudio.blogspot.com
Amber Rasmussen - http://sew-ink.blogspot.com
Norma Gomez - http://lilhoneybeestudios.blogspot.com
Dana Tatar - http://www.datatar.blogspot.com

Paper Wings Productions Blog “The Aviary - http://paper-wings-productions.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY!

&

Let Your Creativity Take Flight!

InLinkz.com

A Fun Week Ahead!

Hello sweet bloggie friends!!  I've got a big scrap filled week full of inspiration this week!!  So let me fill you in on what's going on in my world.  Last week was my son's last week of elementary, boy time flies doesn't it.  We had so many fun activities both in and out of school.  Then on Friday he ended the year on a super high note with his performance of Bon Jovi's "It's my Life" and I'm not gonna lie, I've watched the video of him singing a million times since then.  It was totally a proud mama moment for me!!

Then on Saturday, I co-hosted the the new Zeus and Zoe Challenge with Denise.  The Challenge this month is "My Favorite Things".  I'd love for you to join us!!  To find out how, click HERE and today is my turn to post over on the PWP Blog.  I'm sharing a new mixed media canvas featuring the new June Nesting Components kit and one of my beautiful ladies is making an encore appearance.

So I hope you'll stop by and say hello!  To see my post, click HERE.

Then on Wednesday I'll be traveling to Arlington, TX with Paper Wings Productions to participate in the Stitch, Craft & Create 2013 Great American Scrapbook Convention!!  Can I get a WOOT, WOOT!!!!  (Can you tell I'm excited, lol)  I'll be demonstrating some of their beautiful products so if you're in the area, I'd love to meet you!!  Come by our booth and get messy with me, take one of Carrie's wonderful classes, pick up some crafting goodies and take a pic of Tim Holtz (yes, he'll be there)!!   I hope to see you there, here is the link to event page for all the details: Great American Scrapbook Show.

The fun continues on Friday with the Summer Fun PWP DT blog hop and this month I'm giving away some blog candy too!!  So mark your calenders for that and be sure to stop by to enter!!

Have a wonderful week friends!!!!!

My Favorite Things - Zeus and Zoe June Challenge

Hello Everyone!  I'm very excited to be back with you all today, I took a little time off to take care of a few pressing matters and to enjoy all of the end of year activities that my youngest had going on at school.  Summer has officially started for us so I'm hoping to enjoy some down time but we will see!  

Anywho, my DT time with Zeus and Zoe has really flown by and this month marks the final month of our normal term.  So I'm thrilled to be joining the EXTREMELY talented Denise Van Deventer to bring you this month's challenge!  So here is our challenge post from the Zeus and Zoe blog:

This month's challenge is inspired by the lyrics of Julie Andrews song "My Favorite Things"

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things!

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things!

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes

Silver white winters that melt into spring

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember

my favorite things

and then I don't feel so bad!

We all have those favorite little things that we just can't help gravitating to and maybe even collecting.  So this month we want to see projects highlighting YOUR very favorite things and to kick things off, we've put together a couple of boards to share the things that we love!

For me (Denise) personally, my favorite things that come to mind are: my shoes, my morning cup of coffee, my flowers in the garden, comfort winter food eg. soup or a beautifully decadent cupcake. So here is my board for some inspiration.

I

Now anybody that really knows me, really knows that I have quite a shoe collection! ;-) I love a beautiful pair of shoes and my Dad asks me regularly if I am wearing a new pair! So my layout had to simply be about this little love of mine. The sentiment I chose specifically because it is absolutely spot on! ;-)

So here is my page for this challenge.

I used the wonderful papers by Donna Salazar, the die-cuts, as well as the chipboard alpha's. I did some gesso stenciling on the background and also added texture to Scrap FX chipboards with Kwik crackle.

Aren't these shoes just to die for?!

Norma here to share some of my little obsessions with you, lol.  I absolutely  love everything on my board with my top pick being the beach.  The beach photo on my board is my family's favorite summer getaway here in beautiful Texas.  I added pics of bracelets, lanterns, storage crates and pink orchids because I collect all of these things.  I love, love, love orchids and have them all over my home but they have to be pink (you know how I love color, lol).  I'm also obsessed with storage containers and lanterns.  They're all over my home too.  Oh and bracelets, don't even get me started!  The funny thing is that I tend to always buy them in beautiful shades of turquoise, browns and silver just like in the photo.  One of my other loves is architecture and design, I enjoy taking photos of old buildings with loads of character like gorgeous detailed doors and worn wrought iron and you know my board would not be complete without my paint brushes.  They transport me to my happy place!

Since my all time favorite thing is the beach, I thought I'd do an ocean inspired project.  I also wanted to do my favorite kind of project (mixed media) and use my favorite blue/green colors.  So this is what I came up with:

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved painting and been completely mesmerized by the sea.  I looked forward to Saturday mornings so I could watch two of my favorite shows on public television: The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.  So my goal was bring those two worlds together in this piece.

I began by applying molding paste, patterned papers from my Zeus and Zoe kit and swirls with a 3-D writer.  Once that was dry, I added layers of paint in my favorite shades of blue and began building my cluster of treasures that I'm sure my mermaid has been collecting for some time ;D.  Most of the found objects I used are from my Zeus and Zoe kit but a few are from my stash of goodness.  Next I applied a layer of gesso over all the little bits.  Once the gesso was dry, I spritzed various colors of Dylusions sprinkled with blue/green PearlEx for shimmer.

I love including a positive message in my artwork so I chose to use, "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the COURAGE to lose sight of the shore".  I truly love the way this project turned out and I hope I've inspired you today.

Now it's your turn!! We would love to see your interpretation of this month's challenge, "My Favorite Things"! Whether it's a project using your "favorite" materials or it's about your "favorite" things; if you love it and it's your "favorite" share it!!

This month we are fortunate to have the talented Donna Salazar sharing her wonderful products with us as well as Couture Creations. Each has sent a beautiful assortment of items for our challenge winners.

The Main Prize is sponsored by: Donna Salazar, http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/, and she even autographed it!  How cool is that!!

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.

Also included in the Random Winner Prize Pack is this 6x6 paper pack from Donna Salazar:

You have until the 30th June to join in on the fun.  So break those supplies out, get messy, have fun and share your creations with us!

Have a wonderful day!!