Picture Perfect Layout

Hello, hello!  Today is a HUGE day in our household because our youngest starts middle school.  Wow, I just can't get over how fast time flies.  I hope he has a great day and a wonderful middle school experience.

I also have a Bella update!  Our sweet four legged baby came home yesterday!!!!!  She is still on loads on medications and needs to go back for a follow up in two week but I'm just soooo happy to have her home.  She's definitely not a 100% but she's alive and she's here so that's good enough for me.



Thanks again for all of your well wishes and prayers :D

With so much going on this summer, I really didn't make it into the studio to create too often but I did make this layout last weekend.  I used the beautiful vintage themed Paper Wings Productions Nesting Components kit along with PWP leaf stamps, K&Company stickers and flowers from my stash.

Did you know that PWP has a huge assortment of Fall and holiday themed stamps?!  Well they do!!  I used their Leaf Cling Stamp set on this layout.  Do you see the big cream colored flower?  That was a weekend flea market find :D

With the Aug PWP Nesting Components kit, you get to choose between the circles and damask background stamps.  So I used the circles stamp with some copper embossing powder on this layout.

This is me and my sweet little grand baby last fall.  Well friends, thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to stop by the PWP blog for more Aug Nesting Components kit inspiration!!

Have a Beautiful Day!!!

Victorian Wall Decor - Zeus and Zoe

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you've had a fabulous week!!  Today I have a sweet Victorian wall hanger to share with you that I put together using my gorgeous Zeus and Zoe kit.  

The inspiration for this piece came from this beautiful calender image included in my kit.   Aren't these two just the cutest!!



To keep with the Victorian feel that I was going for, I chose to use an oval frame.  I turned it backwards to create a shadowbox and simply cut the image to fit inside



For a nice finished look I added trim around the edge of the frame.  The sequenced trim I used from my kit was a gorgeous blue but it didn't work with my design so I applied a layer of gesso, then painted over it with fluid acrylic.

To create a base for all of the layers, I cut a frame using my Cricut Frame of Mind Cartridge.  The beautiful KaiserCraft papers in my kit were just perfect.  All I had to do was ink them up a little bit.

Once the frame was on, I was able to start having fun with all the layers.  I used beautiful lace, crotchet trim, ruffle trim, a crotchet doily, beads, buttons and ScrapFX chippies all from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  Marivic's kits really come jam packed with a huge variety of items for your creating pleasure.  She can even make you a custom kit based on your style.  All you have to do is contact her and let her know what you're looking for.

Here's a closer look at the distressing I did on the key chippie.  This is layers of embossing powders, crackle and acrylic paints.  I just kept layering until I was happy with the look.

For a splash of color and whimsy I added a large butterfly.  I also mixed in some K&Company pieces and some ribbon from my stash to complete my design.

 To create the hanger, I used some beautiful May Arts ribbon.  I really love the mix of velvet and crotchet trim on their ribbons.  Zeus and Zoe carries a large variety of these gorgeous May Arts ribbon, go check them out.

Be sure to visit the Zeus and Zoe online store to pick up some of these gorgeous products for your next project.  Oh and don't forget, we still have a fun challenge going on right now!  Click HERE to find out all about it!!

Thank you for stopping by and for all of your sweet comments, enjoy your weekend!!

Adios :D

Hooo's Ready For Spring Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Hooo's Ready For Spring Blog Hop! 

 We are so happy that you could join us today! In case this is the first time you have joined us for a hop, let me fill you in. The lovely Heather Lynn, who absolutely loves owls, gets all of her friends together for a seasonal owl themed hop every three months. Since Spring is almost here we decided to share Spring themed or Spring colored projects this time around. Heather Lynn has put together an amazing line up for your viewing pleasure but wait there's more!

The wonderful Pinque Peacock is sponsoring the hop!!! So please be sure to head over to the PP blog and become a follower. Then, head on over to their Facebook page and see all of the beautiful items they have to offer! Here is the link...

Pinque Peacock Facebook Page- https://www.facebook.com/PinquePeacock?fref=ts

One lucky hopper that hops all of the way through and follows all of the blogs will win a $15 bundle from Pinque Peacock. That will include..

(4) Beaded Stick Pins

(6) Large Felt Poppers

(2) Layered Garden Beauties

(2) Large 1.5" Fabric Covered Buttons (FCB)

(6) Small 3/4" Fabric Covered Buttons (FCB)

(1) 2.5" Splendid Swirl (w/Embellished Center)

Thank you Pinque Peacock! 

Heather Lynn will choose ONE winner next week! Okay now onto my project!!

I made this cute little tag in the beautiful colors of Spring.  If you visit me often either here or on FB then you know that I like to say "WOOT, WOOT" and I want you to know that every time I type it in I'm doing my little happy dance, lol.  So when you see it, just know that I'm raising the roof over here ;D

Now for the nitty gritty of this tag! I used a #8 tag and spayed it with Dylusions inks. Then I ran it through my Cuttlebug to emboss it and inked with TH Peacock Feathers. The little owl stamp is by Inkadinkado on the Gem Stone Birds set. The little frame is from Michaels. I made the stick pin and the smaller flowers are K and Company. The large pink flower, tulle and ribbons are from my stash and the sentiments are by Making Memories.

Well friends that's it for me!! Up next is my EXTREMELY talented friend Lisa of A Mermaids Crafts, enjoy!!

Here's the complete line up just in case you get lost along the way.

Heather Lynn-http://heathernovinger.blogspot.com

 Jessica -http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com

Teresa- www.createenjoyshare.blogspot.com

****Norma G.-http://lilhoneybeestudios.blogspot.com/**** YOU ARE HERE

Lisa-http://indymermaid.blogspot.com

Paula D.-http://scrapyourworld1.blogspot.com

Cindy- http://www.cindys-greencricut.blogspot.com/

Janet R -http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/

Tara-http://www.craftindesertdivas.blogspot.com/

Carrie- http://paper-wings-productions.blogspot.com

  

Thanks so much for joining us today! Have a great weekend!

Beauty - Mixed Media

Hello, Hello!  I hope you all are having a fabulous week!  So far mine is going great, we've been enjoying Spring Break with family but I did manage to fit in a little studio time.  I've also been adding items to my Etsy store daily and connecting with my local artist community (which is very exciting for me).  This week I was also featured on Dawn Herring's JournalChat over on Twitter, so that was extremely cool.  I feel like it's definitely been a great week so far and I have so much to be grateful for!!

Okay so onto to some art!  

I just finished up this 12x12 canvas and have been itching to share it with you:

I started working on this one about a week ago but really hadn't had the time to sit down and finish until last night.

If you follow me on FB, then you've seen this one coming along.  I started out by adding the swirls with crackle paste and a stencil, then transferring the image with gel medium.

Because there was already a lot of texture on the canvas from the stencil, the eyes and hair didn't transfer well.  So I decided to give her a beautiful butterfly mask and long dark brown hair.

From there she sprang to life and her message fell into place: 

Dare to Dream,

 Beloved All Natural Beauty, 

Forever Believe

I'm very happy with the way she turned out and I think I'm going to make artist prints of this one.  I've been researching how to make prints and I think this would be a perfect canvas to try it on.  Either way, this "Beauty" will be available on Etsy starting tomorrow.

I've got some other exciting news to share soon, so keep an eye & ear out!  I really want to THANK all of you for all of your kind and encouraging words.  They really mean the world to me and I am so grateful to have this forum to share my love of art with you.  Have a wonderful day & from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!!!

Jan PWP Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Happy Friday & WELCOME to the January Paper Wing Production's Design Team Blog Hop!

If you've arrived here from Carrie's Blog, then you're in the right place.  If you've just stumbled into the hop, no worries just CLICK HERE to start from the beginning.

Today we're celebrating the launch of our new design team, with a “Friendship” themed hop and we even have some blog candy to share with one lucky follower!! 

For a chance to win, all you’ll need to do is:
Be a follower of the Paper Wings Productions blog The Aviary, visit each of the blogs and leave a little bloggie love for all of our DT members.  Then go back to The Aviary and leave a comment.
For extra chances to win, just 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, January 8th on the Paper Wings Productions blog.

Hi friends, I'm so happy that you've joined us for our very first hop.  I'm so excited to be joining such a talented group of ladies on the PWP Design Team.  Today I have a fun little card to share with you:

Isn't that fun, I just love the PWP Frida stamp sets.  I mean come on, Frida was on a whole other level of creativity, lol.  To make this card, I started out with craft paper for the base and stamped it with Pearl colored acrylic dabber paint using the Music cling stamp.  Next I created the pink patterned paper.  I started out with cream colored cardstock, then cut it with my Cricut Sentimentals cartridge using the sparrow card.  I colored it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Picked Raspberry
 and Spiced Marmalade.  For some interest, I randomly stamped it with the Text Melange Cling Stamp Set and stitched around the edges.

With my background ready to go, I moved onto my focal images.  The sentiment I chose to use is a Longfellow quote from the Kind Words Cling Stamp Set and I stamped it onto a piece of muslin.  Next I stamped the curtains from the Frida Por Vida Set onto My Mind's Eye patterned paper, fussy cut them out and top them off with a strip of a K&Company border.  I did a little paper piecing on Frida.  Her skirt is stamped onto vintage sheet music.  She's pretty cute, huh!

To finish things off, I added some Prima Say it in Crystals and Recollections bling.

Then I inked all of the edges with TH Dusty Concord and doodled all over with a Faber-Castell pen and a white gel pen.

I hope you liked my Frida Friendship card!  Be sure to head on over to Shay's Blog Next!!

Here is the complete line up just in case you get lost along the way:

Amber Rasmussen - http://sew-ink.blogspot.com

Tara Chaussee - http://secretbeesstudio.blogspot.com/

Carrie Avery - http://www.carrieavery.com/
Norma Gomez - http://lilhoneybeestudios.blogspot.com/------YOU ARE HERE
Shay - http://verdigrishall.blogspot.com/
Dana Tatar - http://datatar.blogspot.com/

then come back here and leave a comment http://paper-wings-productions.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY

&

Let Your Creativity Take Flight!

I entered this project in the Moxie Fab World Challenge: #49 Make Your Own Background

InLinkz.com

Army Strong

Today I'd like to honor my brother-in-law Mike who served in the Marines, Army Reserve and National Guard as well as all of the other men and women of our armed forces. Thank you so much for your sacrifice and service.

Today I'm sharing a very personal layout.  This photo was taken after my basic training graduation ceremony.  My son had just turned two years old a couple of weeks before and this was the first time I'd seen him in 8 weeks.

Our visit was very brief because I was getting ready to ship out to my MOS training.  I was gone for a total of 16 weeks for all of my training.  It was very hard to leave my son for those four months but I knew it was the best thing I could to for us at the time and I have no regrets.  This layout is for my son and the journaling explains why I made the decision to join the Army.

I never would have imagined myself in the military but I loved every minute of it because it pushed me to my limits and taught so much about myself.  I am so proud to have served my country.

Thank you so much for stopping by and for all of your wonderful comments!

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

The Aviary: La Katrina - Day of the Dead

Hi there, just wanted to pop in real quick and let you know that I'm sharing a new project over at The Aviary:

The Aviary: La Katrina - Day of the Dead: Greetings peeps! Here's another bonus blog post for the week.  I want to remind everyone that there is still room in our classes at St...

Black Cat & Little Ghost Boo Signs

Hey.....you wanna hear something funny?!  So on Wednesday I went down to Homestead to pick up some of my paintings for the craft show I'm doing this weekend, right.  So then Thursday morning I call the organizer to find out where I need to set up on Saturday and she says, "NO, it's next weekend"!  LOL, so I did all that and have been rushing for NO reason.  Yup leave it to me, lol.  So yesterday, there I am going to put everything back at Homestead and its not down the street either!  Oh well, whatcha gonna do but go with the flow!

Okay, so I've been on a roll lately!  I've finished two paintings, a witch hat and two boo signs.  Not bad huh :D  You'll have to wait til Jenn's Blog Hop on Saturday to see the paintings but here are the two new BOO signs I made yesterday:

I used a PWP background script stamp and gesso to resist on the stamp.  Then sprayed it with Crushed Grape Dylusions Ink Spray.

The black cat and BOO are by LYB.  The papers are Basic Grey.

I used the same PWP background script stamp on this tag, then inked it with distress ink.  The cute little trick-or-treater is by K&Company and the silver frame is by Recollections.

The pumpkin is LYB and BOO is by DaisyD's.  The papers are MME. 

The BOO poems are on the backs of both signs.  

Be sure to join us tomorrow for Jenn's Blogoversary Blop Hop.  It's an anything goes blog hop so there is gonna a nice variety of projects to check out.  There's gonna be some cool blog candy along the way too.  

Thanks for coming by today, have a great Friday!!

WELCOME JOMOblog!  Thank you so much for following along!!!!

I've entered the little trick-or-treater into the My Craft Spot: Monday Challenge -  #71 Boo To You

Witch Boo Sign

Hi There!!  My posting schedule is a bit off right now but I hope to be back on track soon.  Today I have another BOO sign to share with you, hope you're not getting tired of them yet ;D  They have been a hot item over at Homestead Handcrafts so I'm trying to keep up with them.

This one is pretty simple because I wanted to keep the background black since she's flying in front of the moon.  I used a glue pad and flourish stamp for the beautiful glittery orange swirls.  Can you believe this is the first time I've ever used glitter with a stamp.  I've had the glue stamp pad in my stash for years and it still had the wrapper on it.  I love they way it turned out so I see A LOT more glitter in my future, lol.  On the right, I used a black glittery floral stem then just wrote in BOO.  The BOO poem is on the back of this one.

I'm working on some little paper mache pumpkin treat boxes that I picked up at Michaels but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with them.  Hopefully I'll have those done soon so I can share them with you.  Well friends, I'm gonna get back to crafting now :D  Thanks for stopping by for a little visit and WELCOME MARIA MATTER!!!!!

Have a Beautiful & Creative Day, Adios!!!

I entered this project in Hiding in My Craft Room - Challenge #64 - Halloween

Have An Owlsome Fall Y'All!

Welcome to the 

Have An Owlsome Fall Y'All 

Blog Hop!

  

If you arrived here from Ashley's Blog, then you are on Track!

 We are so happy to have you join us today! The hop starts at Heather Lynn's blog so please start there.  You won't want to miss out on any of these wonderful projects! This is a 2 day hop and the line up will be different each day.  Please start HERE today (9/22) and tomorrow (9/23), so we can send you in the right direction!

 Our first "Well Owl Be" Blog Hop went over so well, we decided to do an owl themed hop 4 times a year! Our next hop will be right before Christmas and we hope you will come back and join us then, too!

One grand prize winner will win a Cricut cartridge and a stamp set sponsored by Erica's Craft Room! Thank you, Erica, you are so generous! Please be a follower and leave a comment at all of the stops in the hop for the chance to win. There will also be other blog candy along the way!

Okay, now for my project :D  

I've been on a Halloween kick lately so I made a BOO Sign:

I've been making a ton of these because I just love leaving them for my friends and family. This one measures 12 1/2" x 5 3/4". I used Crescent board for my base and covered it with Basic Grey's Eerie Haunted Forest.

I painted the backside with black acrylic paint for a nice finished look. Then added the BOO poem with some brads.

I made the large OWL with my Animal Kingdom Cricut Cartridge. I cut him at 6" out of Basic Grey's Eerie Evil Eye patterned paper. Next I punched the circles for his eyes from some vintage sheet music (you know I gotta work it in somewhere, lol) and added some gems. I inked all of the edges with Tim Holtz's Black Soot Distress Ink.

This cute little guy is by K&Company, Brenda Walton Stitched Adornments. He's just super cute, isn't he!

Since this is meant to be hung on a door, I added beautiful ribbons with cute bows in black & purple.

I used large white glittered chipboard letters and inked them with Tim Holtz's Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I also used a K&Company glittered frame backed with more vintage sheet music and some embellishments from my stash. To finish things off I trimmed the edges with a cream colored zipper, black sequenced trim and a polka dot scalloped border. Here is the poem I like to use in case you'd like to make your own BOO signs:

The air is cool, the season fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

With ghosts and goblins, spooks galore,

Trick-or-Treaters at the door.

The spooks are after things to do.

In fact, a spook brought this to you.

The treats that come with this short note

Are yours to keep. Enjoy them both!

Excitement grows when friends like you

Will copy it and make it two.

Neighbors will have smiling faces;

None can guess who “BOO-ed” which places.

A day or two to work your spell,

But keep it secret!  Hide it well!

Join in the fun; the season’s here.

So spread these “BOOs” – and share the cheer!

I hope I've inspired you to join in on the fun :D 
Now I have some treats for you, to help you cast your very own spells!

To win this spooky blog candy, all you have to do is be a follower, leave a comment and for an extra chance to win just like my FB page then come back and let me know!  You'll have until 5pm CST on Monday, September 24, 2012 to enter.  I'll post the name of the lucky winner on Tuesday, September 25th so be sure to come back and check to see if you're the lucky winner!!

Now make sure to head over to my sweet friend Jessica E.'s Blog Next!

Here is the complete line up for today just in case you get lost along the way:

Heather Lynn - http://heathernovinger.blogspot.com/ ***START***

Jessica S - http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com/

Ashley- http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com/

Norma G. - http://lilhoneybeestudios.blogspot.com/ ***YOU ARE HERE***

Jessica E - http://chick-n-scrap.blogspot.com/

Scrapbook Joe - http://scrapbookjoeblog.blogspot.com/

Paula D. - http://scrapyourworld1.blogspot.com/

Lisa - http://indymermaid.blogspot.com/

Heather E. - http://craftymamaof2heve.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US
&
HAVE AN AN OWLSOME FALL Y'ALL!!!