Mojo Monday 485

Happy Friday! I finally had a break from midterms , so I wanted to get crafty. I decided to play along with this week's sketch challenge at Mojo Monday for some inspiration. Here is the current sketch:

I decided to make a shaker banner for my card...

I used an older paper collection from Basic Grey called  Konichiwa. I love the Japanese inspired florals and the colour combo. I stitched an piece of acetate to a banner made from the collection and added sequins ad glitter before sealing it up. The bakers twine is from October Afternoon. The sentiment and birthday cake are from Verve Stamps Big Wish stamp set. I colored the cake with my Prisma pencils and added a few dimensionals to make it pop a little, with a few Prima mini flowers for a little something extra.

Omigosh, I really enjoyed making this card... it's been so long since I've had time to do any sort of crafting!!! I'm already looking for another challenge to get my creative mojo going!!!

Go check out Mojo Monday for this great sketch and to see the awesome entries for this week's sketch! Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!!

G45 Raining Cats and Dogs mini album

Hi all! I have a mini album to share with you today. I haven't  had much time to do much crafting since I went back to college, but during the break between semesters I did manage to finish a few minis. For tis mini I used a tutorial from Ginger at My Sister's Scrapper. She has a ton of great tutorials on her blog and YouTube channel for mini albums and other awesome papercrafts...make sure you visit her blog and channel!. I've made a few of hers so far and I love how quick they come together! This mini made following her Trifold tutorial ( click here to go to her tutorial). I used Graphic 45 raining Cats& Dogs paper collection and ephemera. I only had a few sheets of this collection, but it was enough to make a super cute mini.

I decorated the cover with a 4X6 cutout and chipboard elements from the collection and some flowers from my stash.

Here's a close up of the front cover.

There are only two pages but they hold a bunch of photos! I love the angled pocket on the inside cover.

I made an envelope from WRMK Punch Board for the "Cats Meow" insert.. it's perfect for holding loose photos.

The inside...

..with pics of my cats!

This is the other page and back inside cover.

Each page has a top loading pocket...love this pic my  dog "graduating" from puppy school"! The paw is from a Cricut cartridge ( can't remember which one!) that I had cut long ago , just waiting to be used!

The back cover. The album is held together with an elastic band.

I have a few more albums finished... I hope to share them soon!

Thanks for stopping by blog today!

My first Jingle Belles card of 2016

Is it January 2016 already??? There's been so much going on in my life the past four months. First of all, my eldest child moved away to college in September. She is going to school nearly 900 kms from us.... and while I am so proud of my girl, it was so hard saying goodbye. School started for my two kids at home.. my baby just started junior high and my second daughter started grade 11... just one more year with her home and I'll two kids gone!!  But the biggest reason I was absent from my blog and participating in all the fun blog challenges was because after 20 years out of university, I went back to college!!! I'm working on my business degree with a focus in human resource management. This was a big life changer for me... and my crafting time has been sorely neglected. I had two weeks off during Christmas but I suddenly developed nerve damage in my left eye, leaving me with double vision ever since. Hopefully, this heals itself soon , cause its driving me crazy!!!! So that was fall 2015 for me, but it's now 2016 ( still keep writing 2015 !!!) and I hope I can find some crafting time in between my studies!

I popped on over to Jingle Belles to check out their current challenge. BTW, love,love the new JB banner!!!! The challenge is a fun way to start off the new year with a little bit of old and some new!

 I didn't buy as many new paper goodies this year as I usually do , but I did manage to find a few super cute 6X6 paper pads from American Crafts.

I love all the tones of blues in this paper collection... it's perfect for a snowy themed card..

I also used a sketch from Basic Grey that I found on Pinterest ( hmm, could that be something old ,as I'm pretty sure its an older sketch???)

So with my new paper pad and this fun sketch, I grabbed my supplies and started creating and here's my finished card........

This was a lot of fun to make and I hope I can play along  with another JB challenge soon!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today... have a great crafty day!

European travel scrappage

Hi and welcome to my blog. Have you checked out the latest sketch over at Stuck?! sketches  blog ... it's another great one. I decided to pull out some of my photos of a trip we made to eastern Europe a few years ago.  Here's the sketch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went for a clean and simple look for my page.... this one will actually fit easily into my album!!

 

 

 

 

This was a super quick page... I used a few sheets of paper, some wooden words and shapes and a few other embellishments! I had this page completed in under an hour!! Woop-Woop!!! Wish all my layouts would come together this easily!

 

That's my layout done... thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 



Mojo Monday 411 : God Bless You card

Hi and welcome to my blog. Today is Monday and time for another awesome sketch by Julee Tilman for  Mojo Monday ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clean and simple design of this sketch really appealed to me.... so I didn't add any fussy cuts or layers for my card.

 

 

 

 

 

I used an older paper collection from Fancy Pants Designs (Summers End) for my paper layers and even my stamps are ones that I've had in my stash for awhile. The flowers are from a real oldie Treasure Life set that is at least 8 or 9 years old and the sentiment is from a newer set called Card Chatter-Sympathy... both stamp sets are from Close To My Heart. The buttons are Stampin' Up! - yep, more oldies!!

 

That's my Mojo card ... thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

12 Tags of 2015... August Tag

Hi and welcome to my blog. It's the middle of the month and I'm only now getting a chance to post my August tag for Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2015.Can you believe that this is tag #8 already???  I love that Tim shows us how to get the most of what we already have in our stash of tools and papers,  through really cool and unique techniques. This month's tag is no exception- Tim uses dies to create a custom background for his tag.

 

 

 

I used my Silhouette machine to create my tag base and then followed along with this month's tutorial (click here for tutorial) for my tag. Here's my August tag.......

 

 

 

 

 

My tag is beach themed... lots of summery colors in blues greens and yellow for my tag.  I must admit that when I first applied the inks to my gesso-ed tag I was nervous that the colors wouldn't blend as well as they did for TH tag, but they did!!! I really like this technique and I will be trying it out on future projects!! My seashorse was created on my Cricut Explore machine using the Life is a Beach  cartridge and the words on the tag itself were custom made on my Silhouette machine. I added white pearl paint to the seahorse and then wiped some TH Distress ink in Peeled Paint to the edges. The miniature bottle is filled with glitter in god and blue and tiny seashells that  collected while on vacation in the Bahamas a couple of years ago. I tied a sailors knot with some chunky twine and added a TH metal arrow and a fish ( painted with Weathered Wood distress paint and Peeled Paint). The sand dollar was given a similar treatment. I printed off a quote and cut it into strips and spritzed it with Lindys Stamp Gang Opal Sea Oats Starburst spray .

 

That's my August tag... thanks for looking!!

 

 

 

 

 

Mixed Media art box

Hi and welcome to my blog. Mixed media is fairly new to me and while I have so much fun experimenting with textures and styles I still have a lot to learn. Pinterest is an amazing source for techniques , tutorials and of course and endless supply of inspiration! I also found some really great challenge blogs to play along with. Anything But Cute has great monthly challenges... I love that we have a whole month to play along with.... and the DT has stunning samples to get your creative mojo going!! This month they have a magical mood board for us to play along with.....

 

Isn't this stunning??? There's so much here to be inspired by... the gorgeous colors, the glittery texture and of course all that gold!!! 

 

 

I pulled out my inks, stencils,glitter ( yay, I love glitter!!!) and whatever else I could find to start my project. Take a look....

 

 

 

 

I have several of these wooden boxes from the dollarstore just laying around waiting to be turned from drab to mini works of art. I started off by adding layers of texture with my stencils and modelling paste ( Prima) and scraps of paper and a bit of painters mesh. Then I spritzed Tim Holtz diastress and Lindys Stamp Gang inks in  browns, blues and yellows( spritzing water between layers ) to achieve the desired effect. I then added more layers of gold tones from Prima Bloom sprays  for the final touch.

 

 

 

 

I stamped randomly with a few Prima stamps ( honeycomb and script) before I started on the flower cluster. I used mainly Prima flowers which I inked for an aged looked. I made a larger flower from Graphic 45 Topography paper , on my Silhouette diecut machine. The moraccan chipboard was made on my Cricut Explore - I cut sections of the shape and used the same colors as the box .I used strips of paper from the same collection here as well. A few buttons ( I have tons of them in my stash!), wooden shapes, enamel dots, crochet flower, cheesecloth and lace ,glitter, a wooden paintbrush and a bit of gesso on everything completes this cluster nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

I made this ART by adding chocolate brown Gelato by Faber-Castell with their Whipped Spackle. I love  the thickness of this medium , yet it's so lightweight and dries very fast. Look at how the letters just pop off the box! Awesome!! I applied TH Distress Glitter ( in gold, of course!!) in random places throughout the box. My last embellishment is this pretty glittery butterfly.

 

I had so much fun creating this altered box, I hope you enjoyed it ,too! Thanks for visiting my blog today!