Wonderful!

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends!!! It's mid week and tomorrow is OCTOBER!!!! Yipeeeee!!! Can you just believe it??? I most certainly can't and I am tickled pink! :) Can you tell that this is my favorite time of year??? LOL  All sorts of dreamy things go through my mind this time of year!  All the fabulous colors, sights and smells and visions of warm and fuzzy things in my head!! Just lovely! I only wish I had a hammock, a spiced pumpkin latte in my hand and a creek to lounge by!! Snap out of it!!!!! Now, back to reality! :) LOL

Today I want to share a canvas with you that I woke up thinking about several days ago and just had to make it a reality! I can't say that I knew exactly how it would turn out, but I had the color format in my mind and a basic idea of the composition. We all know that can change at any given time, but for the most part, I stuck to my minds eye! LOL

I started this canvas with some gesso and then simply pulled out a myriad of stencils from my stash and placed my homemade modeling paste through each around the canvas for some texture. In addition, I made the focal point be the three hearts in the center with the paste.  I then took my gifted lot of PaperArtsy Fresco retired paints in Marlin, Chutney, Chartreuse, Dusty Teal and Irish Cream and just began to randomly smudge around the canvas while spritzing with water for movement here and there and did the same with Prima's Chalkboard Paint in Sea Breeze. I also painted the focal hearts with Sea Breeze and while they were still wet, I sprinkled Finnabair's Art Sugar in Antique Silver. I then took the Marlin and just put some random circles for further effect.

I knew I wanted a little more texture so I took some Liquitex Gloss Gel and mixed it with Finnabair's Glass Glitter in Sterling and put it through another stencil that had various sized hearts on it to go with the three focal hearts in the center. I had to let that dry over night as it was pretty thick.

When it was dry it looked ok, but still didn't have the pizzazz I was looking for, so I took Daler Rowney's Pearlescent Waterfall Green Ink and dripped from the top with water in the general areas of the gloss gel hearts hoping it would surround the hearts and bring them out. It did somewhat, but I ended up taking my Stabilo pencil and outlining and shadowing them further as well as the focal hearts in the center.

I had some scrap burlap on my table top so I sprayed with my fave Lindy's Stamp Gang Spray in Cattail Copper Brown. and then I popped out the word "wonderful" from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Alpha Parts Framed and painted with gesso and then the PaperArtsy Fresco paint in Marlin. Then to embellish further I covered the word with Aleene's and and sprinkled with Finnabair's Micro Beads in Silver. I then attached the burlap and word to the canvas with Aleene's.

I then simply splash spritzed the canvas with Lindy's spray in Cattail Copper Brown and Ponderosa Pine Olive and watered down PaperArtsy Fresco paint in Chartreuse. Voila!  This really was a quick and fun canvas to do! I loved how it turned out!

Thinking of "wonderful," made me think on my life and just how "wonderful" it really is!  I could have been born at any time, but God chose to set me in this frame of time in history in this country. I am an extremely blessed woman! I believe God ordains times and places for His purposes under Heaven! In His word He says "From one man he made every  nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." (Acts 17:26) God wants His best for you and I! We don't deserve it, but that's what He wants! Sometimes you may feel that He made a mistake, but I assure you He didn't!

God's Word was given for your eternal hope and security in this lost world! If you are unsure of your place, take hold today and ask Abba Father His purpose for your life and ask Him to illuminate the path that you may be confident and sure that you were "set" in this time for a purpose and for His glory!

Life is too short to think it is anything but WONDERFUL! God bless you as you grab hold today!

Fall Fun!

Good Friday all my crafty friends!! It's a rainy, misty day in Georgia! It's got that cool snap in the air, some of the trees look like they are thinking about doing some changing and my body is saying "YES, fall come on!!!!" Nothing like the changing of the guard, what a show! :)

As I have been in the "fall mode" for quite a bit now, I will share another fall tag that I have done. Like the last tag I did, this one came together with snap!  I love when what is in my mind "actually" comes out in the project, let alone twice in a row!!! LOL I'm on a roll!!! LOL At least in my mind anyway!! After doing this tag, I wanted to get in my camper and hit the road! But, thankfully, I have a job five days a week! LOL

This tag actually started one way, even though I knew what I wanted to do, and ended up another. This large 8x4 tag is part of a RAK stash that I have and lately have been working on a lot! I love the size of these tags. I had adhered a beautiful knapkin on this tag that had the colors I wanted to bring out in the tag, but then ended up just about completely covering up!! LOL I think in the end it was ok however. After I adhered the knapkin, I pulled out my fave Lindy's sprays and just started spritzing and spraying this way and that until I got the effect I was looking for. I then distressed the edges with the Tim Holtz distress tool and Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. I pulled out my favorite script stamp from Inkadinkadoo and stamped with Archival black in to give some texture in the background.

I then used some of Finnabair's awesome Texture Paste in Copper Crackle through Tim's Harlequin Stencil here and there and let it dry while I was getting my bits and bobbles together. I found some pieces of burlap and pulled out some of the strands to get a frayed edge look and then I took several different colors of twine and braided them together and adhered with Aleene's onto the burlap and then adhered both to the tag.

I then did some heavy digging around into my embellishment drawer and pulled out Tim Holtz's Alpha Tiles to get my sentiment, a piece of emphemera, some chipboard leaves, a couple of metal elements and then pulled out my big bag of odd's and ends pieces that was given to me in a RAK and got some great die cut leaves.

I took my chipboard leaves and the die cut leaves and inked up with a great pigment ColorBox set that I have had forever! ColorBox sets are the bomb and well worth what I paid for it! It is as juicy today as it was when I first bought it! I love that set. I then embossed both sets of leaves with clear embossing powder. and then embellished a little further with Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo and Wild Honey.

I love old bottles and I actually collect them. In the fall when we go hiking we love to come across old home places whereby there is usually an opportunity to dig around and find some really old and neat artifacts. Our digs usually always turn up an old bottle. So I thought I would put a bottle in the mix for my "fall feel!" I have a great little stamp set from Graphic 45 that I love that has some neat little bottles with different labels you can put on them so I stamped "honey almond" on the front thinking that was the best fall fit. After stamping on card stock, I distressed wtih Distress Ink in Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo and then covered with glossy accents to make it look like a bottle.

I assembled everything with Aleene's, but also reinforced with hot glue because some of the embellishments were heavy. Voila!  This tag really was great "Fall Fun!"  I couldn't get it done fast enough because I wanted to see how it would turn out and I was really happy with it. Hope you like it too!

I am looking forward to the weekend. We are giving my oldest daughter a 15th Birthday Grill Out! We love getting together with family and friends, grilling out some good old hamburgers and sitting by the fire pit and with the cool snap in the air, it looks like it will be a great Saturday evening!

I hope you have a FABULOUS weekend! Many blessings to you! :)

TGIF!!!!

Good Friday all my crafty friends!! Boy, this has been a week to really look forward to Friday! It's been crazy around here, kind of like "full moon" crazy! LOL I love to work, so the busy, busy doesn't bother me so much, but sometimes how the busy happens makes Friday look more inviting! LOL

I have been working on a project at home for a loved one that requires a certain type of frame that I haven't been able to find in a local store, so unfortunately...ha ha ha....I am just going to HAVE to go out of town and go to one of my favorite hobby stores to try to find it!!! So bummed right? LOLOLOL!! Please send up prayers for me that I keep my head once I enter the doors! LOL You just don't realize how much of a weakness that particular store is for me, so the prayers are no joke! LOLOL All that said, I hope to share the project with you once framed before I pop it in the mail!

It would appear that the "art spirit" is heavily flowing right now as I have seen a couple of posts from some of my online pals showcasing some of their recent projects that were similar in thought to one I was working on!! Funny how that happens huh? I just take it as "great minds think alike!" That is an honor for me because the projects come from two very talented ladies over on Google+, Zsuzsa Karoly-Smith and Shel C! I love both of these ladies and they both are so creative!

Zsuzsa posted a canvas that she had done that was inspired by Betty Franks Krause, better known as Mystic Tulip. I have followed Betty for some time and love, love her work! I had actually also done an inspired piece based on her beautiful creativity back in June that you can see here. So the other day I was on her blog and getting inspired again while unbeknownst to me Zsuzsa was being inspired as well and did a fabulous piece! And then sweet Shel saw Zsuzsa's piece and also was inspired to also do a fabulous piece! I guess we can all say THANK YOU Betty for your beautiful inspiration to us all! I just love your work!

I have been doing lots of tags lately and had been wanting to do a canvas. I had a few small 5x7 canvases in my stash, so I just grabbed one of them and went to town! I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do, but then after I got into the project, the whole thing changed! I love when that happens, because I am usually more pleased with the latter idea rather than the former idea! LOL!

I covered the canvas with gesso and then just started slapping my paints on here and there in no particular order. I have a RAK stash of discontinued PaperArtsy Fresco paints that I wanted to use and I picked the colors of Dusty Teal, Turquoise, Chutney, Chartreuse and Amethyst. I think they all turned out to work real well together! I had initially stamped on the canvas with a stamp from my August Layers of Life kit, but you all have had experiences with trying to stamp on canvas......not so good. So, as I didn't like how it turned out, my mind shifted into doing something completely different. I decided to do some big flowers out of my mess! LOL

I drew the flower petals using the botched stamping as the center with my LePen Permanent Pen. I like using that pen. then from there I enhanced the petals with that yummy Amethyst color. I then applied some of Finnabair's Texture Paste in Copper Crackle through a stencil to embellish the center of the flowers and let it dry by itself. I did get a crackle effect, but I wasn't real heavy with it, so the crackle wasn't real prominent.

After the paste was dry, I pulled out one of my newest fave pens that was gifted to me by Tonya Gibbs, the Marvy Reminisce gel pen! I love, love the way that thing writes over any of my projects! Anywho, I began to outline and doodle to enhance the flowers. Then I also doodled with my Uni Paint Fine Line White Pen. After I was through with the doodling, I then just popped in some bling in the very center to finish and voila!

I really enjoyed doing this little guy and kind of putting my own little twist on it! Make sure you go check out Zsuzsa's and Shel's canvases because they really are wonderful and if you haven't gone to Betty's Facebook site, you won't be disappointed with your visit! 

I hope you all have great plans for the weekend.....maybe to shop, maybe to play, maybe to veg!! LOL Whatever you do, be blessed as you do it!!

Happy day my friends! :)

Small Things!

Good Thursday all my crafty friends! I hope that as you have been nearing the weekend that you have been blessed and enjoyed the week! Every moment of every day is an "opportunity" to be blessed of the Lord and have joy!! Often times we miss those "opportunities" only to regret it later!! If you find yourself in a situation today where you can bless another, that's an opportunity waiting to happen! Not only will they be blessed, but you will be blessed because of your blessing! And seize every moment to allow the breath of God in you to stir those living waters that bring a joy in ALL things. No matter the circumstance, you can have an amazing joy through Jesus Christ! You remember that our ways are not His ways, so allow His very character to shape who you are and be a blessing! :)

Today I want to share some small things! Yep, I love small things because usually, they bring the greatest joy! I love mixed media and I love applying that in many areas. One of the things I love to do are ATC's! I love to do them because it's a quick and easy project, you can do many at one time, they are a versatile gift and being that you wouldn't be geographically challenged doing them, you don't have to come up with huge ideas to do them! It can be just a spur of the moment, off the cuff kind of project. Hey, that's a win/win situation for me! Or you could just say, if you are feeling lazy and don't want to put a whole lot of thought into a project, do an ATC!!!! LOL Whatever works for you! :)

I always have fun doing these guys and it was just as true this time. Without a doubt, I think my favorite sprays are Starburst Sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang. I am sure there other fabulous sprays out there and I have tried many, but I go back to Lindy's every time! I'm not hating on other products, just saying what I like to work with the best! LOL So the other night I just pulled out a whole stash of my Lindy's and went to town!

These were just pretty basic ATC's as I just spritzed and sprayed everywhere with my Lindy's (and I think there were a couple of Tattered Angels as well) and then rounded off the edges with Distress Ink first in Dusty Concord and then Vintage Photo. I applied some of Tim Holtz's tissue tape here and there on each and then did a little background stamping with a stamp from the Unity Stamp Layers of Life July Collection with Archival black ink. I then simply took some gesso and applied it in various spots here and there with "found things" on my desk. That could be anything from PVC pipe to bottlecaps, who knows? LOL

I really liked how they turned out and I will find all sorts of things to do with them. They make great gift tags or I like to send one in with my "swap goodies" that I may be involved with in a month. Either way it takes the stress off of "having to do a themed project" or having a "deadline!" I just did them for me and we all need that from time to time don't we!!


I hope you have great weekend plans to look forward to! Last weekend was "clean weekend," so I get to have "me" time this weekend, which really only means that I have free time to shuffle the kids around wherever they want to go! LOLOLOL But, I am thankful I'm blessed with those beautiful girls to be able to take them wherever they want to go! :)

Make a joyful noise today and be blessed! :)

Vision!

Good Tuesday all my crafty friends! We have been experiencing lovely weather here in Georgia. Almost fall like.....almost! LOL That means out of the 90's and triple digits! LOL We have had out windows open and it has just been glorious! Nothing smells better to me than a home filled with breezes of outside air! Last weekend was my "clean the house" weekend, so for once, I thoroughly enjoyed puttering about cleaning as those yummy breezes came in!

As I have been really pushing fall in my mind, I wanted to do a "fall" tag. I had gotten my August Unity Stamp set in and wanted to use them in a project! The tag that I used was a large 4x8 tag that was a RAK from my good friend Wanda Hentges. That sweet lady send me a stack of those guys and let me tell you what, I have been loving using them!! I also used some discontinued PaperArtsy Fresco paint that was also a RAK from Wanda on the background. In addition to those paints I used tome Daler Rowney cream and some Americana Spiced Pumpkin. I simply took a makeup sponge and started with my light colors and worked my way out with the darker colors for a mixed "fallish" feel background. I finished by distressing the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.

I pulled one of my old fave stamp sets from Dyan Reaveley, The Around the Edge set, and sponged on the various paints and stamped lightly in the background. After doing so, then I painted in a few here or there with the darker colors. I then took that leaf stamps from that August Unity set and stamped with Archival black here and there as if cascading down.

I keep an old bucket full of extra pieces that are left over from other projects, so I pulled out my can to see if I could use anything from it. I actually had some leaves left over from a project that I think I did last year (nothing like hoarding! LOL) and then also pulled some metal leaves that I got from Sheri Whitfield's Etsy Shop. I love those metal leaves and actually am going to have to get some more because I am just about out! My good friend Wanda also had sent me this HUGE bag of what I call "what nots" that I was fortunate to get from her past projects! In that bag was that great banner and the die cut word vision! I love that whole bag of goodies. Every time I look in it, I find something else wonderful! She had also stashed the beautiful sentiment that she had stamped on some card stock that I ripped and distressed with Distress ink in Antique Linen and Spiced Marmalade. Thanks Wanda! :)

I took the banner and covered with drywall tape and then sponged on the same paint colors that I had used on the tag and then distressed the same as well. I then mixed the Americana Spiced Pumpkin with some Liquitex Modeling paste and put through a leaf die cut remnant that Wanda had in the bag. It worked great! I then popped out the "vision" die cut letters and covered with a brown ink from ColorBox and then heat embossed with Ranger clear embossing powder. I wanted a touch more of something on those letters (like a rust look) so I took another lighter metallic brown and heat embossed again on them to give the effect. It looked great! I adhered to the banner with Aleene's and then I smeared around some more glue and sprinkled Metallic Mica Beads and Mica Flakes for another cool effect! I then adhered the whole lot including some twine and some bling with Aleene's and voila!!

I chose that word "vision" because fall to me represents change and where there is change, you have to have vision! Vision for a hope, vision for the future and discernment filled with vision to walk in God's plan for your life! When we as Christians begin to try to understand how to walk in God's vision for our life, we have to be very sensitive to wait and listen for His voice. How do we do that? It starts by surrendering ourselves unto Him. If you don't humble yourself before Him, you can't begin to think that you would hear His voice because the only voice you would hear is your own! It's not about you, it's about Him and His glory!

To know His vision for our lives we have to be able to offer up and confess our sins and then be obedient to God's will for us to actively seek Him through prayer and His word. His word is a roadmap, it's a light and lamp to our feet, it's a guidebook and His last will and testiment to us!! You want to walk with vision, get in His word! Commune with the Almighty and allow Him to speak with you and show you His ways! His will is for you to know Him and then walk in that wisdom and truth that another may be drawn unto Him!!! With vision is change and change is growth! Just like the autumn leaves that change and fall, spring brings on new growth and new vision! I want to see more clearly through His eyes, how about you?

I pray you seek His vision for your life today, you will not be disappointed!

Blessings

Turn, Turn, Turn....

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! Blessings to you today! I am just coming back off of a well needed vacation! We had such a fabulous time with friends and family! We went on a wonderful camping trip to which I did not want to return! I NEVER do, but, that wouldn't be very realistic would it??? Back to work and kiddos back to school!  I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for His very provision to be able to enjoy such a wonderful past time with my family! One day, if and when I ever retire, I want to be a permanent RV'er (is that a word? LOL)! One can dream! :) I hope you all, who live in the states, had a good holiday weekend! We ALL labor, in one way or another, so we ALL deserve a break from time to time! :)

I have several things I have been needing to share, but have just been busy. Today, I want to share a journal spread. I haven't done one in awhile with so many other projects going. I need to get back to my journals. It felt good to do so. I have been dreaming of fall and how the seasons turn from one to the other. Summer colors fading to fall colors and so on with each season to another. I love them all and marvel at the changes.

I had fun doing this page, as I always do, but the reason why is because I did the good old collage technique in the background with all of my yummy saved gelli print pages and pages that I have sprayed off on. I love doing that because it's a way to be colorful (me thinking of the colors of seasons) without really having to use a whole lot of any medium on the page because it was already done on the random saved papers. With these, I simply applied with Mod Podge and then shadowed with my favorite Nougat Faber Castell Big Brush Pen.

All of the stamps I used were from Unity Stamps, which I love. The big flower, symbolizing the fading of summer, is from the the February 2015 Layers of Life Kit and the colorful leaves underneath, symbolizing going into fall, are from the September 2013 Layers of Life Kit. One of my all time favorite past times is hiking (especially while camping) which is so amazing to do during the fall, so I wanted to put something "like" me, on my page! LOL The leaves on the hiker's page are from the recent Layers of Life Kit, which I LOVED!

I fussy cut all the stamped images and colored the leaves and hiker with my Faber Castell Big Brush Pens and then adhered with Mod Podged. I stamped my sentiment with some cheapo alpha stamps on plain paper, cut and then distressed with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo along with the edges of my journal pages and the Mod Podged down as well.  I finished by watering down some black ink and doing some splattering on my pages.

I put the little butterfly on the left page as if he were leaving summer and following me into fall. Corny, but that was my thought process anyway! LOL When I was camping this weekend and hiking, I was already having lofty thoughts of fall and really getting giddy about the cooler weather and the majestic showcase of leaves changing and falling. They make such a showcase that simply shows me that ONLY the Creator of this universe could design such a process!! A scripture came to me out of Psalms, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place" (8:3) that resonated in me as I hiked. As I look around and commune with Him while hiking, that is what I speak to Him! I am quick to thank Him for His creation that He chose me to be a part of that I KNOW He set in motion from the foundation of this world! He spoke this ALL into being, called it good and chose to allow me to enjoy it's goodness with Him! What other joy could there be? Thank you Lord!

Today, I encourage you to look around you at the vastness of His glory, call it good and thank Him for the honor allowing you to be a part in such a time as this!

Bless you today! :)