Christmas DIY Cheer!

Good Tuesday to all my crafty friends! I am so praying that this holiday season is finding you all healthy and full of joy and peace! I have been busy, busy at my craft table getting last minute things done for gifting. As I will be off pretty much the rest of this week and ALL next week (yippee for me) spending much needed time with my family, I will show you a couple of DIY projects that I made for a couple of loved ones for Christmas!

A couple of months ago, I won a fabulous prize from Quietfire Design that involved some lovely stamp sets and awesome wood pieces from Walnut Hollow. I was so excited to win, because I NEVER win anything! LOL But that being said, I have never worked on wood before. Oddly enough, my husband is a woodworker, but I have never dabbled. So I was fast and furious online seeing all the many projects I could do with the pieces I won. I settled on trying my hand at pyrography or wood burning. I have always thought it was a beautiful art, but have never tried. So I bought a pretty inexpensive wood burner at a local store and decided to give a go.

Well, I had lots of fun, but BOY HOWDY do I have a lot to learn. An experienced person will look at this and attest to it pretty quickly! I downloaded the digital from online from one of my fabulous freebie sites, blew it up and then transferred it to the wood piece and then just went to it with my burner. It certainly is a process and I fumbled and bumbled my way through it! But I took note to many things as I did this piece that will help me for next time. All in all, I liked what I did, but I'm hoping future projects will be a little smoother. As I live in a small town, there aren't really any "crafty classes" around here to learn this type of art. Until then, I am combing the internet for "how to" vids, but they sure are hard to find! What do you think for my first try?

The second project, came a little easier for me as it was more in my element, so to speak. I have a bestie that, like me, collects crosses, so I wanted to make her one this year. I loved making it and it really came together very quickly. I bought the wood piece at a craft store and had initially thought about stacking wood pieces, but they didn't really have ones to stack with, so I stuck with the one. I gesso'd piece and then took some lovely craft paper and old book page and collaged all over the cross. I then took some of my fave, fave Daler-Rowney Pearlescent Inks in Waterfall Green and Galactic Blue and applied over top. I love those inks as they are so smooth to work with and the pearlescent is to die for! Even watered own they are still so fibrant!

As I wanted to get a "patina" kind of look, I took my Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and applied on the edges and sides. I then took one of my favorite background stamps with Distress Vintage Photo and applied lightly over and on the sides for some texture. I have enjoying using my cheapo doilies for many projects this season as they do quite well with various mediums, so I used one here with Distress Stickles Clear Dry Glitter Rock Candy and then applied some brad looking elements to pull out the patina look on the cross that I was going to use as the centerpiece.

I love using Prima flowers because you can do pretty much anything you want to with them and they will turn out great. I always buy the big barrel with the plain ones and then I can color them to suit the project. So I took several here and colorized using the Daler-Rowney inks as well as the Distress Glitter. I laid down some sticky back ribbon and I loved and added more of the brad elements to the cross and shaded with Vintage Photo and then applied the centerpiece with hot glue. I think it turned out nice and I hope my pal likes it!

I hope you were able to get all of your Christmas Cheer done and in the mail on time, but most of all had fun doing all of your many projects as well. As I mentioned the other day, I have had fun, but I will be glad to get back to "no mail deadlines" and just having plain fun! I have all new projects on my table to start off 2015 with and I can't wait to get my hands on them! One will be an altered book journal for the new year. As part of a journal challenge over on His Kingdom Come, I bought from a dear online friend Mary Brack in her Etsy Shop. You should pop on over, she has some gorgeous altered books. I have to get started altering the cover over my wonderful holiday time off so that I can start the challenge called Take Me Deeper by January 2, 2015! If you are interested, you should click on the links and join the site and group for what will be a growing experience for 2015!

I will also be continuing my "Tag Swaps" over on Google+ Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art in the new year! I have January's on the table and it's time to get busy! I have to tell you that I have met so many wonderfully talented folks through my online adventures and rounding out 2014 calling them all my friends is a blessing! I look forward to starting 2015 with them all and sharing our love of art!

As I will be off next week, I want to wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas and a MOST blessed New Year! My prayer is that you ALL would know the reason for the season in Jesus Christ the blessed Son of God and carry His free gift of life within you that you can look to 2015 with enthusiasm for growth that you could be fruitful for Kingdom building on earth! God bless you ALL!

Merry Christmas!

Behold!

Good Thursday my crafty friends! I trust you all are making wonderful plans for the weekend! Many of you, no doubt, will have started holiday parties and family gatherings! My favorite things! I love when our family gets together because we seldom all do during the year so when the holidays come around I get so excited! I've shared with you before that I come from a large family, so just imagine what our gatherings are like! It's lots of fun! I pray you all will be able to be with your loved ones this holiday season and enjoy the love and fellowship!

Today, I wanted to share a quick tag with you! It really was a quick one too! I found the angel image online, which I just loved and knew I wanted to use it. The actual tag I made out of scrapbook paper that I loved the color of. It went with the angels shaw perfectly. I really liked it as well because it had "Noel" watermarked on it, which was fitting for this tag! I simply used Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers all over the tag and then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. I had that piece of red emphemera that I liked and thought it went well behind the angel. I fussy cut the angel and distressed her with Vintage Photo and laid them down with mod podge. I had some lace that I had bought not too long ago and thought that bits of it looked like snowflakes, so to the horror of lace lovers, I cut those bits off and glued them on the tag with Aleene's and then sprinkled Ranger's Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy over the whole tag for the shiney angelic look! Simple but sweet.

The tag today was done in the light of Luke 2:10 "Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people." When one thinks of Christmas, this scripture usually comes to light. I try to imagine what it must have been like to be one of those shepherds in the field as the angel appeared to them with such news. What a moment in their lives, what a moment in history, what a moment for eternity! The precious baby, Christ Jesus, brought to earth to fulfill prophesy and to YES bring us GREAT JOY! My heart takes a leap every time I think about the GREAT JOY He has in fact brought to my life!

"Behold" indeed! Behold the GREAT manner of love our Father in Heaven has shared with you and I! Behold the GREAT joy and peace He offers up to us for life eternal! Christ willingly came to this earth, lived a sinless life and suffered that you and I could be free! What a matchless gift not only this Christmas season, but a gift that keeps on giving ALL YEAR THROUGH!!

This Christmas, BEHOLD Christ and His great love for YOU!!

Blessings

Sharing Creativity!

Good Wednesday crafty friends! I feel like during this holiday season that I have not been able to post as much as I have wanted! I am working on so many things trying to get them done to put into the mail that I haven't really had a whole lot of time to just do art for the fun of it! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE making gifts for others because it is sharing a part of me, a part of the creativity that God placed on the inside of me, but I will be ready to just have "play time" again after the holidays!

Speaking of sharing creativity, I want to share with you today some of the creativity that was sent to me through an online ATC Swap that I am involved in over on Facebook. This month two of my swaps came from Australia! Isn't that exciting! I have many online friends from abroad, but there is just something about getting a piece of mail with "Australia, or United Kingdom or Germany" on it! It makes me feel special! I wonder if you folk abroad feel the same way about receiving western mail? As I shared with a wonderful friend of mine yesterday, I'm easily entertained, so maybe that's it! LOL

Red & Green Swap from Joannie Campbell

Zentangle Swap from Lyn Reynolds

The first package with that precious bird is from Joannie Campbell who is from New South Wales, Australia. It was a lovely Christmas scene with what looked like glass bead gel over top! Joannie also gifted me with that little bag of bits and bobbles that I know I will be using in my upcoming projects! Thank you so much Joannie!

The second package was from Lyn Reynolds who is from Proston, Australia. I really liked her ATC as well as it was a part of the Zentangle Swap and I love to Zentangle. I'm probably not the best at it, but I love it none the less! She did these beautiful flowers with that precious hint of red! She also had it enclosed in this handmade card with a lovely note inside! Thank you so much Lyn! I hope both of you ladies have a Very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year!

You know, in God's Word He speaks on sharing and giving to others! In Matthew 10 Jesus told His disciples "freely you have received, freely give." That is a commandment we should ALL live by daily! When we "freely" give to others out of the gift that God has given to us, it will glorify Him in EVERY way thereby opening up for you, as well as the receiver, a blessing! God has given to us that we "share" with another! That is a type and shadow of the GREAT love that He freely has and gives to us! It is the very character of Christ when we give out of a heart that is geared toward the Father! I want to be blessed and I want to bless the Father. What about you?

I pray this holiday season as well as each and every day that you share your glorious gift with another that you bring glory back to the Father! 

Blessings

ATC Friday!

Good Friday crafty friends! Phew, boy am I glad it's Friday! It's been a crazy week and it's NOT over! I have to START Christmas shopping tomorrow! Yep, you heard me right! START! I haven't bought the first gift! Well, the plan is to have a marathon Saturday, with shopping list in hand and I can tick, tick, tick em ALLL off! LOL We shall see how that goes! I've farmed the kiddos off to friends' homes and there's NO stopping me, except those LONG lines that is! LOL I think prayers from my online friends are in order! If you don't see me blog for days on end, you may want to call an all-points bulletin in Georgia! LOL! 

Today, I want to share a little of what I am doing on a swap that I am involved in on Facebook. Thanks to my good friend Becky Wentworth who tipped me off to this group, I now do an ATC with so many wonderful people from east to west as well as abroad! I love doing ATC's just like I love doing tags, I think, because they are not so intimidating. You know how journal pages or spreads can be such a HUGE white space when you are having "artists block!" Not so much space to fill on an ATC and I really like that when I'm having a journal non-creativity moment!  LOL

Zentangle 

Red & Green

For the month of December I entered into four swaps - Zentangle (any type of tangled image), Red & Green, Artist's Choice and Merry Snowfall! 

Merry Snowfall

Artist's Choice

Doing all of these lovely swaps and challenges in the month of December has really gotten me into the Christmas spirit! Not that I usually need an excuse to get in the Christmas spirit, but as we all get caught up in the hussle and bussle, its nice to take the time bring out the magic of Christmas through art! I'm so thankful for the opportunities that God has given me to do this and most importantly the opportunity to share with and make new friends through all of this!  I have to say, "artsy folk" are some of the best folk in the world!  I have been so blessed to meet so many of you and learn from you and to be encouraged by you! What a better way to finish off my 2014 year?

I look forward to 2015 and all the wonderful new adventures and all the many ways God will use me in and for His Kingdom! I have lots of projects on the table and that being said, I better get to cracking! LOL

Happy Friday and have a most blessed and beautiful weekend!

Tis the Season!

Good Thursday all my crafty friends!  Well Tis the Season to be..........finish that sentence!!! For me, this week, it's been "the season" to be home home with my sick girl!! LOL She is my "seasonal" baby! Unfortunately, she deals with sinus issues and respiratory issues most years around this time.  What's so funny is she was just saying, "mom, it hasn't been bad this year!"  LOL Boy isn't that how it works sometimes!  My husband has seasonal issues as well, so she gets it honestly! All that said, I am back to work today after being out for two days so I am fast and furiously trying to play catch up! I wanted to post however because I have received happy mail and sent out happy mail that I want to share!

First I will share a sweet tag I got in my mail several days ago from Anne Williamson out in California!! As I have been out of the office, I haven't had time to post this for you all to see. You guys know I love getting happy mail, so I was doing the happy dance at the box the other day when I got this in (yes, it was a scene!:) LOL!)  My sweet tag came in an envelope that Anne had gussied up with all kinds of cute Christmas embellishments, which got me all excited about the cuteness inside! :)

As a part of the tag swap over on Google+ Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art, Anne was my partner for the month of December and the theme was "Red!"  Red indeed!  Anne had a beautiful red snowflake background embellished with lot's of Christmas time ornamentals.  The focal point was the lovely red cardinal, which I love!  I love cardinals! We are are "semi" bird watchers at my house and I love to see the cardinals come in with their blaze of color! So do my cats, but that's another story! LOL She finished with some sweet glitter and "Peace!" Christmas season is definitely all about "Peace," in so many ways! Thank you so much Anne for your tag gift! :)

Likewise, since Anne let me know that she received her tag that I sent her as a part of the swap, I will share that with you today as well! This season has been so much fun!  I love doing holiday tags THE MOST!  This one was no exception, I had a lot of fun doing it! I had some awesome digital Christmas catalog paper that I had downloaded and sprayed it with Dylusions Post Box Red and then distressed with Barn Door.  I think I might have even sprayed some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lame on top.  I can't remember as I did this tag back in November!  I was so excited to be doing the swap that I went ahead and did it then! LOL I had also downloaded the Santa and little tag that I distressed both with Vintage Photo.

I had some cheapo doilies that I get from the "bakery" aisle that I wanted to use because they always make me think of snowflakes.  So I covered the doily with Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel medium to give it some texture and shine and then used the rest of the glass bead gel through Dyan Reavely's Let It Snow stencil. I adhered everything to the tag with Aleene's and then added some little "snowflake looking" silver beads to dangle with the small tag along with some ribbon. Fun, fun, fun!

I also sent Anne an ATC that was Christmas "Red" themed.  I am part of another swap group over on Facebook that is all ATC's and as I was working on those as well, it was easy enough to do extra for other projects such as this! I sent the ATC on the left to Anne and then sent the one on the right to my good friend Becky Wentworth! So much fun and so many lovely people to send them to! :)


I also want to share with you my "regular" swap tags that I sent Becky Wentworth this month! As I mentioned last month, Becky and I are just craft hounds and have been enjoying the heck out of creating, so she and I just swap because we love it! But I did the same theme of "Red" with her as well and I thought I would give you a look see.  She has received them, but hasn't had time to post, so you may see hers post as well in the day or so! 

As I mentioned above, I sent her the little ATC to the right and then sent her a Santa tag and a sweet little Santa's Helper tag! I have to say that I was in the zone and couldn't stop myself whilst making all these tags and ATC's! I was having so much fun and little ideas kept popping into my head, so I just kept going and going!  Now as MANY of you know, we can get that creative block from time to time, so while the mojo was on, I just kept creating! LOL On the Santa tag, I simply took an old stencil that I believe has various "circles" on it and I sprayed Dylusions Cut Grass through first, heat set it and then took Tim Holtz's Burlap Layering Stencil and sprayed Post Box Red over top. I believe I then distressed the edges with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo. I then sprayed a fixative over top so I could apply other layers.

I had some real cute Christmas tape that I got in the bargain bin last year after Christmas along with the snowflake punch and I simply put the tape on the tag and punched some snowflakes out that I then covered with mod podge and Ranger's Distress Stickles Dry Glitter-Clear Rock Candy. I also had used a piece of emphemera, a digital Santa and another piece of the doily that I used in Anne's tag and adhered them all down with Aleene's. I also went over top of the art and tape with Mod Podge so I could shade in the end. I also decided to add a little more color to Santa with Viva Decor Inka Gold in Steel Blue and edged the tag with the same color. I finished the piece by heat embossing Season's Greetings with ColorBox ink and clear embossing powder! Voila!

The sweet little Santa's Helper tag is just oozing with cuteness and I just had to send it to Becky because she just oozes with sweetness! :) I loved, loved doing this one because that little girl just called to be used in a project for Christmas!  I downloaded her the moment I saw her! Isn't she just precious?? I started the tag by adhering some geli print paper to the tag with some mod podge and then I sprinkled some of that Clear Rock Candy Glitter over the top and heat set. I fussy cut my little helper and the Merry Christmas banner and cut out my emphemera and distressed them all with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. I added some extra glitter to her bonnet and took the liberty to make out her Santa List! LOL! I shaded everything with Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen in Nougat and add a sweet little "puff" to her bonnet along with some ribbon. Pretty simple, huh? Double voila for today!
:)

A lot to digest today, no?  All I can say is the Christmas season brings out the best, in ALL of us! Going back to my original sentence...Tis the season to be..........have you thought of any words yet? Jolly, kind, giving, helpful, thankful, loving, hopeful, caring, the list could go on and on! I pray that you extend any of those sentiments to another during this season. It may be the only act of kindness that is extended to that particular person this season, so why shouldn't it come from you?

More sharing tomorrow, I'm sure you are pooped out from my sharing today my friends! :)

Blessings to you as you bless another! :)

Magical Month!

Good Monday, my crafty friends!  It seems ions since I have posted, even though it was last week!  I have been extremely busy with many projects on my artsy table with swaps and challenges!  Phew, I'm wiping my brown now as I speak! LOL  I don't know how many of you do this on a regular basis??? I have been having fun however!! So I didn't post a lot last week due to getting all these wonderful projects done!

Today, I want to share one of them with you and maybe another tomorrow, you know, spread the love! LOL  The others, I can't share until my partners receive them in the mail....don't want to spoil it! LOL So today, I will share my Monthly Journal Challenge over on Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art on Google+.  This month Ruth challenged us to a Magical Month journal page! I loved it and couldn't wait to get started on it!! After all, December is about as magical as it gets! LOL

I so loved doing this page and knew right away what I wanted to do! I centered it all around this digital print of this beautiful girl I found online! It was in a "freebie" site, so I pray that I haven't caused an issue by using her. That being said the artist is "B," which is on the bottom of her cloak and I totally give "B" ALL the praises for this drawing! She is gorgeous! So, "B," whomever you are, thank you so much, she's beautiful!

I started this spread with some gesso and then proceeded to add two different kinds of teal and a light blue paint with a kitchen sponge. All just cheapo acrylic paint. I then dotted some more gesso on here and there with that same sponge and then finished off with Distress Ink in Vintage photo on the edges and little bits here and there on the spread. As always, I sprayed a fixative on it so the Distress Ink wouldn't move because I knew I would be putting other things on top.

I then, took my Let it Snow stencil by Dyan Reavely and put some modeling paste through giving me the snow effect. I then found some great free online digital art of holly, birds and star and fussy cut them all out. I took out my wonderful gelatos and placed various colors on my craft mat and spritz with water and painted the beautiful girl and star in several blues. I knew I wanted her "fluff" around her face and on the bottom of her cloak to sparkle and pop, so I added modeling paste to both and them sprinkled Ranger's Distress Stickles Glitter in Clear Rock Candy over top. I absolutely LOVE that stuff! I could use it on EVERYTHING! LOL! I then heat set it and it looked brilliant. I also stamped with one of my favorite Itty Bitty Stamps from Unity Stamps, "Jesus is the Reason" on some beautiful Christmas craft paper.

I modge podged everything down and as I did, I put more modge podge in various areas of the spread and sprinkled more of the glitter from Ranger over and heat set for a zing! When I fussy cut the little girl, I had to cut off her hair and tassel on the hood, so after I heat set, I drew those back in. I then took some alphabet letters from a Tim Holtz stash I had and some pretty crystal looking rhinestones and glued them down with Ahleene's. I took my favorite Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen in Nougat and simply shaded all the yummy pieces. And there you have it! Simple, but from my heart!

This theme was dear to my heart because I love the Christmas holiday, BUT mostly because it celebrates the magical time of my Savior Jesus Christs' birth! The scripture that I immediately thought of when I heard the theme was from Luke 2 "But the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings and GREAT JOY which will be to ALL people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."(v. 10-11)  Glory to God in the highest!! What manner of love is this that our Father God would send His only Son to earth to be born a man, to live a sinless life and be the greatest gift of life to all those who receive it?? I am SO, thankful for this ETERNAL gift of life! THAT is what I call magical! Magical star that ushered in the precious life of the baby Jesus to bring ME life!  I pray this holiday season you come to enjoy the magic of the Father's love for you! 

I will also be sharing this journal spread over on Sunday Sentiments at IndyDinkyDoodle blogspot! If you haven't visited my friend Zsuzsa's blog, hop on over and check it out, you will love it! :)

You be blessed today as you ponder on the magic of Christmas! :)
Blessings 

Happy Mail!!

Good Tuesday all my crafty friends!! It's Happy Mail Day!! I must make a confession to all my my friends.......I LOVE GETTING MAIL!! There is just something about coming home to find that precious package in the mail with your name on it!! I know, I'm a kid a heart right? I can't help myself...I turn 10 every time I go to the box! Likewise, my children do the same thing when I go to the box! They say, "is there anything for me?"  As if anyone from their generation even knows how to write a letter!!!! Bahahahah! So my response is generally, "not unless you are paying bills!" I know, I know, I spoil the dream moment, don't I? LOL I do feel their pain however, when I don't have something other than bills! So yesterday, was my day!! I was so excited, as were my girls, so......to redeem myself to you all, I generally let them open whatever I have! Whew, I feel better! LOL It was my November swap!!! Yay!!!

For November, my swap buddy was Donna Hanrahan all the way from Massachusetts!  You can find Donna on Google+! I was excited to have her as my swap buddy this month because I love her Google+ picture of underwater creatures and I was hoping she would do something coastal, which MA is!  And what do you know, she did! I love her tag!!! Along with the tag was a lovely personal card from her as well as a cute little small tag with the same color theme!

There is really so much to love about this tag and unfortunately the only way for me to display things is with my phone camera.  I have a pretty good one, but it could never really show the true beauty of her tag!  The colors are totally "me" colors, which couldn't be better!  I loved all of the little elements in her tag that just resounded "cuteness!"  The best part was the focal point, which was a shell with what looks to be colored crystals "treasures" inside! Again, my phone does not depict the pretty, shininess of these little stones!  They are SOOOO cute!! Donna, I just LOVE it!!!


Then the other wonderful thing I loved about her tag was the back!  I am not sure the technique she used, but its like a "crackle" technique of some sort, which is just beautiful!  Along with the gold specks and the beautiful papers and twine, this pulled together for a FABULOUS project!  Thank you so much again Donna for a most fabulous November tag!

My thoughts, as they usually do, immediately turned to offers of "Happy Mail" EVERY DAY in God's Kingdom!! In God's postal box, you are sure to find a free gift there DAILY, and......that gift keeps on giving!! That means that every day that you go to that box, the gift is still there! It's the gift of SALVATION!! Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for you and I that we may be saved and have life ETERNALLY!  Wow, what an amazing gift and what AWESOME "happy mail!"

God's Word in 2 Corinthians 9:15 it says "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" Dr. Nelson Price said that "an appropriate gift does two things: one, it reveals the love of the one giving it, and two, it suits the needs of the one receiving it!" In light of that, you could say that both the giver and the receiver are being blessed!!!  The giver is blessing another with their heart and the receiver is being blessed with a gift that is surely God's timing for just that moment!! In the case of a Christian the Giver is God the Father through His Son Jesus and the receiver is you and I! That IS an indescribable gift that will suit your NEED DAILY!!! No matter what time of day or no matter the day, EVERY time you go to God's postal box, there will be the Gift of Life awaiting you, which fills your need for ETERNAL salvation! Glory!

I pray today that even if you aren't expecting happy mail from a "swap buddy" today, that you KNOW that you can receive a more valuable gift of life and freedom that is an indescribable gift of expression of the heart of the Father!

Blessings

Full of Grace!

Happy first day of December my crafty friends!! Gosh, I am just getting chills thinking of that!! LOL How did it get here so fast? My girls, of course, are ecstatic! I, on the other hand, NEED a little more time! LOL All I can say about that is THANK GOODNESS for God's grace!!! LOL

As the holidays approach, I am more excited about all the wonderful art projects on my table!!  I have been like a "mad woman" just crafting away for many of these project!  So much so, that I am ahead of the game and have had a lot of my December projects well done in advance and have been chomping at the bit to get them in the mail!! So yippee for me cause it's FINALLY December! LOL

All that said, I want to share a tag I did for one of my crafty buddies Becky Wentworth, who like me, can't get enough of crafty happiness and we, aside from our other "swap" projects, just decided to swap together, like ALL THE TIME!! LOL  How's that for giddiness for you?  We are just having stinking fun and wanted to share with one another!   I know she shared this over on Google+ but I will give a little detail!

I had sooooo much fun doing this tag, because I already had in my mind what I wanted to do for Becky!  And it was simple because of it being November and the Thanksgiving holiday was approaching!  It immediately brought "warm" thoughts of God's beautiful glory in His autumn season and the thoughts of "home" and "family!"

This tag was really very simple as I just took and covered the tag in Distress ink in Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade (probably my most favorite color EVER) and Vintage Photo.  I, of course, distressed the edges with Walnut Stain.  I took my favorite script stamp and applied with Vintage Photo and then I had some really great pieces of emphemera that I distressed.

I made the leaves from old book page that I distressed and stamped lightly and then added veins with Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo and then I had drawn and cut out quite a few of the acorns from another project knowing I could use them in this project as well.  I also just simply distressed them and then I added some ribbon and voila, off in the mail it went! How simple was that right?  I loved doing this one, it got me ready for Thanksgiving! :)

I pray you ALL had a blessed Thanksgiving filled with lots of family and friends, love and togetherness and, of course, got a "belly FULL!" LOL I was so blessed to be surrounded with a ton of my family members as we were invited into my brothers' home for the day!  We enjoyed laughter and catching up and then as always, we round out the day with family games!  I have  mentioned before that I come from a big family and growing up, it was tradition to sit around and play games of all sorts.  Anything from board games to card games to even games in the yard!  So we have carried those traditions with us and to this day when we congregate, we pull out the games for lots of loud conversation, love and laughter!  It is a sight to behold! LOL  I CONTINUE to be THANKFUL!

Going back to God's grace that I mentioned earlier......did you know that it NEVER ends!!? In Lamentations of God's Word it says "Because of the Lord's GREAT love, we are NOT consumed for His compassions NEVER FAIL!" (Lamentations 3:22)  Can anyone say THANK YOU LORD? I pray you understand the magnitude of that promise for you and I!

Returning to my statement of needing more time before Christmas, I'm sure we have all felt like that at one point or another!  We need to stay in a constant state of KNOWING that because of Christ, we can rise above ANY of that!  Now, I know what you may be saying....needing more time before Christmas is a small thing when you consider what I am saying. But what you  have to realize is the enemy of this world is CONSTANTLY at work trying to deceive you and keep you from the promises of our Father in Heaven and how they apply to ALL circumstances of your life. He wants to steel and rob from you any place of joy and peace you may have. And around the holidays is good place to do that!

We all scurry around at holiday time trying to get something for this person and that person, trying to figure out where we are going to get more money, trying to make everyone happy, trying to have the perfect holiday decoration scenario, etc....the list goes on and on and on! It goes on until we are one big ball of stress and the only good thing about the holiday, is seeing it GO!! Wow! How horrible! Not only did you not enjoy the holiday, but the whole meaning of Christmas went right out the window!  And....the enemy did exactly what he set out to do in you!

But God!!  God's grace is sufficient for you and I in ALLLLL things!  We can't do any of the things I described above with any semblance of order, but for the grace of God!  Because of Jesus, we can rise above doing ANYTHING in and of ourselves and do ALL things through Him!

As you start preparing for Christmas, keep Christ at the center!  As you do, you will have the proper order and balance and enough grace to handle your tasks, with enough to extend to another!

Be blessed today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Wednesday my crafty friends!  Tomorrow we here in the states will celebrate Thanksgiving! We all look forward to the holidays for many different reasons and I certainly look forward to this wonderful day for a myriad of reasons!

Fall is my favorite time of year and love all that it encompasses! The colors in general speak to me because they embody warm and coziness, which I love! I would be remiss if I didn't say that I love this holiday for ALL the wonderful comfort food!!  Yes, Thanksgiving is comfort food to me!!  It kind of goes back to that warm and cozy feeling because after you get a belly FULL the couch by a cozy fire is the ONLY place one could go! LOL We identify things such as turkey
and pumpkin pie as the consummate Thanksgiving dishes and who could do without the sweet potato souffle with the ooey, gooey marshmallows on top!!  Yes, only in the good old USA would one top a delicate vegetable with marshmallows!!! LOL Tragic as it would seem, I DO LOVE that dish!! My waistline, however, doesn't like ANY of it!! LOL

Another reason I love the Thanksgiving holiday is to be with my FAMILY!!  Growing up I always identified with the wonderful Norman Rockwell painting of "Thanksgiving!"  That was LITERALLY how it was in my family growing up!  I had a VERY BLESSED life growing up with awesome brothers and sisters.  I was part of a family of twelve!  We had five boys, five girls and my parents!  Then often times our grandparents were there as well!  Typical was the atmosphere of laughter, table games and/or the traditional football game in the yard (remember Eight is Enough....yep, that was us!)  I can't say ENOUGH how God blessed me to be a part of such a wonderful family!  We are all scattered to the wind now and we no longer have a family home to gather at, but we do still try to get together at one of the siblings' homes on the holidays!  I do miss those wonderful childhood days!

But for me, the most important part about Thanksgiving is being THANKFUL!!  Thankful for ALL of the above things mentioned, but also for the amazing love of my Father in Heaven!  I have ALWAYS been blessed and God has ALWAYS kept me in the palm of His hand!  I could NEVER be thankful enough to a Father in Heaven who gave it ALL on the cross for me!  It's indescribable the love I feel being a part of His family!  Just as the Norman Rockwell picture depicts the earthly family gathering warmth and love, I can identify, as a Christian, with being a part of a Heavenly family whereby there is a banquet table I am allowed to be seated at with all of my spiritual brothers and sisters in even more warmth and love! My prayer for you today is that if you don't know this kind of love that you would seek it out!  It is available to you FREE!! God tells us in His Word, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matt 7:7) No questions asked, the Father is waiting to embrace you at that same banquet table!!  Come hungry for He want to fill you to the brim!!


Today, I want to share a VERY QUICK tag I did just to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I literally got up this morning at 5am because I couldn't sleep for thinking of doing this tag.  So I threw it together before I did my Bible study time.

As I didn't want to wake everyone with all my knocking around I just opted to do all Distress Stains so I wouldn't have to dry, etc...  I simply used Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Vintage Photo and rounded it out with Walnut Stain.  I had the awesome stamp from Unity that I love, love of the Tree of Gratitude and the "gratitude" sentiment that came in my September of 2013 Layers of Life Kit. I also used another stamp that I love, which is the bird from a Fiskars Stamp set and then the other words came from a Yellow Bicycle Stamp Set. I added some Tim Holtz tissue tape and some faux stitching around the edges and voila! Quick, no?

I pray all my crafty friends have the Happiest of Thanksgivings!  I know my friends from across the pond don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but it doesn't have to be Thanksgiving to be so very grateful in your heart for all of your many blessings!  

God bless you!

Tag Swap!

Hi my crafty friends!  Today I want to share a tag that I made as a part of the Tag Swap over on Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art on Google+!  For the month of November it was artists choice for the tag and as it is autumn/fall and coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to make a tag in keeping with that them.  My swap buddy for this month is Donna Hanrahan and you can visit her here on Google+.  I have been so excited to be a part of the swap and I look forward to ALL the fabulous talented creativity that will be going around!!

For Donna's tag, I used the darker tag (not sure what you call it) because I was again, thinking "warmth" and fall.  A lot went on with the base of the tag that you really can't see due to all that I placed on top, but I will try to give you a run down based on my memory (very scary!) I used one of Tim Holtz's stamps that that was kind of vintage looking with Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade. Then I took some Distress Paint in Antique Linen through a stencil doing both just to give some background.  I loved that I downloaded and knew I wanted to use it and as it had these birds in it I took a bird stamp from Fiskars that I had in my stash and stamped several on the background.  Again, they are hard to see with all the fuss!  I then distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

As I always do I sprayed a fixative on the tag because I knew I would be putting things on the top and wanting to do some shading.  I then applied the digital down with Mod Podge and added a piece of burlap and some twine down at the bottom.  I had some emphemera that I picked up at the Dollar Store, of all places, that I loved and thought it would go cute with it, so I applied it down with the burlap and twine. I did quite a bit of shading with the emphemera and photo with Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen and then added some faux stitching around the photo.

I had this cute "little" tag that I wanted to use  that I simply distressed with Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo and added the little sentiment and a little maroon rhinestone that you really can't see. I also added the little pin embellishment from Tim Holt's stash that says "keepsake" on it, that you also can't see! LOL  So much for my lovely photography with my cellphone! LOL  The flower emphemera that I added had some faint blue on it so I took a gel pen and added more blue specks and some on the foliage in the digital for a little more color. I then just added some ribbon and yarn that I had in my stash and voila!

I had so much fun doing this tag because I was so excited about the swap, so I hope that Donna enjoys it and knows that it comes with lots of warm Georgia hugs this wonderful Thanksgiving season!

I hope those others of you who are involved with the swap are having fun and enjoying the creativity your are receiving as well as enjoying giving back out! That's what it's all about!

Blessings for a great day! :)

Happy Mail!

Well, as promised, I wanted to share a few things today to catch up!  I have quite a few things on my table, ALL a part of challenges and swaps going on, coming up and starting the new year!  I am so excited because I love sharing with others and it's all a new experience for me.  It's also exciting because I am meeting new people, WHICH I LOVE TO DO and it is also forcing me to challenge myself concerning my art and who I am.  The two, after all, go together for me, so sharing a part of me has been a challenge.  That being said, I have been blessed with so many people full of nothing but wonderful things to say and encouragement!  You guys are some of the best people I know! :)

All that said, one of my wonderfully talented friends that I met online, Becky Wentworth, and I are exchanging fun tags and Friday I was blessed with "happy mail!"  It was so exciting because I have been waiting with baited breath for her package! Becky loves color and so I knew it would be a yummy project to be sure!  Well she blessed me with not just one, but THREE tags!!  I know, right!?  Plus some awesome paper she wrapped them in that looks as if they were gelli printed. SCORE!!!  I opened to this sweet tag that said Merry Christmas on it with that cute little tree and flower! Love it!

Then I opened the first little package that was this wonderful tag with a Christmas Tree on it and the word Noel!  I loved this tag!  The base color was fabulous, but then all the texture pieces she adhered in the background were great too!  Then the lovely tree she drew on the music script was so cute and I absolutely loved the hints of purple she outlined the tree with and then splattered everywhere! Yummo!  She finished with the gold cord! Done good Becky!!

The next tag was just simply brilliant!  This was just a beautiful vintage angel tag that just touched my heart!  Honestly the colors are just gorgeous! Becky is just a precious soul and this came out in this tag! The sentiment says"Keep true to the dreams of thy youth!" Love it!!  It's so hard to say what I love best about this tag because I loved it all, but I really loved the button at the top and I told her I was stealing that idea! LOL  The precious lace and patina like embelishments at the bottom just added so beautifully to the tag, right along with that sweet little butterfly!  Brilliant tag Becky, truly!

Again, topping it off were those lovely gelli print pages that I confess, I have already started using on other projects!  Just too lovely not to use and share with others!

I really wanted to share the goodness that was blessed to me and I hope you like my goodies!  Go over and take at look at Becky's Google+ page, she has lots of talented craftiness on there!!  Thank you so much Becky my friend! :)


Off the subject, I wanted to share another picture with you.....of my nails!!! LOL, LOL  I'm giggling because.....I DON'T DO NAILS!  I've always had what I call "man hands!"  But my daughter begged me last night "mommy can I do your nails.....pleeeezzzz!" LOL  Well, who could say no to that? Besides, I own nail polish remover right!? LOL You can't really tell from this picture but there are like three or four coats of what I call "glop" on there!  It's like a mauvey color with a coat of some sparkly stuff on the top!  She loves her sparkles!! LOL Go mom! One point for me!! LOL What made this ALL worthwhile was seeing her face light up as she dolled me up and just in general spending time with her as we watched "The Golden Compass!"  We love watching movies together and this was a good one to watch!!  She's a jewel and I'm blessed!

Have a great day my friends!

Give Thanks!

Good morning ALL my crafty friends!!  I feel like it has been ions since I was able to post!  Last week was a whirlwind of sick children and running around.  As I had posted, my one daughter had dental surgery and to ALL the precious people who sent their regards or channeled their thoughts or prayers our way for my sweet girl, I can't thank you enough!!  She did marvelous and is healing brilliantly!!  I am a firm believer that prayers hold MUCH power!!  Coincidentally the evening of the day she had her surgery, my other daughter hollered out for me and as I went to her, I noticed her mouth was bleeding!  What in the world?? Her filling had fallen out and her tooth had cracked right down the middle!!  Oh my Lord!  So the next day I had to go take her to have her tooth extracted!!  Nothing like trying to be like your big sister, huh?  LOL  She did famously as well and both girls are on the mend! Thank you again, my wonderful online friends!

Today I have many things to share with you to play catch up!!  In spite of my hectic week, I did get some things accomplished and one was being able to play in my art closet.  I was able to do a journal page and then as a part of several swaps I am involved in, I was able to get ahead of the game on my tags for December!  I know that looks like I capitalized on my daughters' sicknesses, LOL, but one could also call it time management!!! LOL  I was thankful for the time to play as my daughters healed!

I really loved doing this journal page because everything around me was screaming autumn/fall!  It is my very favorite time of year and if time stuck during the fall, it would be lovely!!!  I had in my mind already what I wanted to do, so surprisingly this page came together so fast.

I began with gesso on my page as always and then proceeded to pull out quite a few stencils to just start laying color down with.  I think most were Crafter's Workshop stencils along with Tim Holtz's Burlap Layering Stencil (one of my faves!) and some bubble wrap.  I knew I wanted to use the teal, but when I got through laying the teal and some purple (all cheap acrylics, by the way) I wanted to tone it down some, so I went back over smudging some gesso on with my fingers.

I pulled out my Faber-Castell Gelatos and just began to accent here and there with just random colors.  I then further accented with my charcoal pencil and a little more gesso here and there.  I had downloaded the "acorn" digital from the internet (not sure where) and loved it and knew I wanted to use it.  The acorns on the digital really appealed to me so I took some great cardstock that I had and drew some more acorns and colored the acorns with Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo.  I then took some old book page and fussy cut some leaves and drew some veins with Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo.  And then Distressed the leaves and the digital in Vintage Photo.

I had the idea of the coffee mug in my mind because nothing says fall or autumn to me than sitting around a fire with a good cup of joe.  So I fussy cut a cup on some wonderful scrapbook paper I had that was teal  and then added some accents with other scrap paper and a cute little stamp I had and then filled it with some neat little items that just said "homey" to me!  I, of course, distressed all of the pieces with vintage photo and then applied everything to the page with mod podge.  I had seen the quote from John Donne online "No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face."  I love, loved that!  it just went with my thoughts on my favorite time of year.  I shadowed everything with my favorite Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen in Nougat!

This is the week that everyone recognizes being "thankful!"  I try to remain in a place of thankfulness on a DAILY basis. God's Word in Ephesians says "Giving thanks ALWAYS and for EVERYTHING to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!" (5:20) That says, always and for everything! No matter the circumstance, no matter the time of year!  I have so many things to be thankful for, but above ALL, I am most thankful for a Father in Heaven who would offer up His only Son on the cross for ME that I might be saved and be reconciled back to Him!!  Thanks speaks of eternity!  Who wouldn't be thankful for ETERNITY?

This week my prayer is that you ALL would bask in the goodness of our Father in Heaven,  He loves you and I and wants nothing in return, but your thankfulness, your honor and your praise!  Be thankful and praise Him today!

I am also SO very thankful for ALL of my online friends that I have met and who have taken the time to encourage me and whom have visited and commented on my blog! Bless you ALL and may you have a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Blessings!