Jesus is the Reason!

Good Thursday all my crafty friends! Well, I am so glad to be posting again today because as I noted yesterday, this will be the only time I can post until after the 1st. When you live in the country, you can't get internet!!! LOLOL How is that even possible?? With technology today, it should be a given, but alas, not in south Georgia! LOL

So today I am going to post my last two challenges of the year, which I hope sets the precedence for next year! I confess, this past year was a real stinker for me and posting! I had a very challenging year, but God in His infinite wisdom and love, saw me through it all! I'm so VERY THANKFUL and GRATEFUL for my Heavenly Father all year long, but most especially at this time of year when we celebrate His most AMAZING gift of love to us all in the form of His Son Jesus Christ! LIFE, and life MORE abundantly! When life's stresses, hustle and bustle and furry of the holiday season seem to way on you, won't you take the time to reflect on your year, count all of your blessings, tell your family you love them and most importantly remember the REASON FOR THE SEASON in the form of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! What great love, mercy and compassion our Father in Heaven has for His people! Happy Birthday Jesus!

So as a part of the Pick A Stick Challenge over on the Facebook page of the same name, here are my December submittals for the journal page and ATC! First up, my journal page! I don't get on Facebook too much anymore expect for my challenges and family contacting, so when I went to the page, I just laughed to so others's journal pages because apparently we were ALL thinking the same way this month! You will see quite a few pages that have the same theme style as mine! I love it! We were in sync and on point this holiday season! Not the intention, of course, but a happy coincidence!

I had fun this month mainly because we all love Christmas and crafts for Christmas just seem to come easy! :) But you will see the drawn stick requirements below:

As most of you know for this challenge, the only requirement is that you craft your journal page in the order of the stick pull! The fun, of course, is coming up with ideas to do those requirements and obviously the challenge is doing them in order! I do come up with snags sometimes, but this month was a breeze!

I gesso'd my page and then applied assorted acrylic colors with bubble wrap. I then added my "hanging" stars with my non dominant hand (in my case, my left!) You should have seen me trying to get the glue down and add the strings and starts with that hand! I might have had an evil look on my face during parts of that fiasco! LOL The next was to drip paint, so I dripped some of my Daler Rowney liquid acrylic from the top down and dried and took some of my Caran d'ache crayons and colored around here and there and then applied water them to soften up.

Now, the alcohol is always a mystery to me, but I just took a pipet and put a little alcohol in it and then sprinkled here and there and then blotted. I really can't tell that it did anything, but there you go....I complied! LOL I then took my Big Brush Pens and colored the edges of my page to fulfill number 8 and tenn number 9 said doodle around the edge. So I doodled the top edge to have dangle downs! I wasn't sure about using the straight edge what it really meant, so I took my Tim Holtz tool and distressed the edges because I wasn't really sure? Oh well, voila! Page done! 

Added incentive is to then do the ATC Challenge from three sticks pulled from the 10 that were pulled for the journal page. My ATC was also a breeze and so much fun this month! 

The stick pull is as follows:

I gesso'd the ATC firstly because I wasn't sure what I was going to do, no harm, no foul, but I ended up wishing I hadn't! Oh well! Reason being I had to "color with markers" first! Eeek. But it turned out ok. I took a circle stencil from Donna Downey and used my Faber Castell Big Brush Pens through the stencil here and there. Kind of hard to see them now that they are mostly covered! Then we had to doodle around the edges,which I also did with my Big Brush Pen and then I covered it with and "antique colored" modge podge and while it was still wet covered with Ranger Rock Candy Glitter all over and then dried it! You soooo can't see it in this picture, but it's yummy glittery!

I had this wooden Santa in my stash, so I gesso'd him and painted him and also covered his beard and fuzzy on the hat with the same glitter. I then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo and did the same with the ATC. I put that little guy on with pop dots and then did the same with my "be merry!" Voila, ATC done!

Love, loved this months challenge! Thank you so much Pick A Stick Team for ALL (YOU GUYS ARE THE BOMB!!!) you guys do to keep this challenge going every month and I'm so thankful to be able to take part (even if it was slim this year) and meet new crafty folks and see all their amazing craftiness! My challenge for next year to to be able to do it each month!! Fingers crossed! LOLOL

Merry Christmas to you ALL and a VERY BLESSED New Year! May 2018 be FULL of joy, peace and prosperity for you!

Blessings 

WOYWW #446

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends!! Christmas time is near!!! I would like to report that since my open confession last week that I had not bought ANY Christmas gifts yet.....I have since bought a few!! Woop, woop!! Can you feel the excitement!! LOL Now, that by NO means is to suggest that I am even NEAR through, but hey....I still have four more days! LOLOLOL

So it's that time of the week that we show off our digs as a part of WOYWW over on Julia's blog Stamping Ground!! Come check ALL the lovely crafters' desks and perhaps play along! This week I a going to share several photos (sorry Julia), but MAJOR squeals are coming from my "art closet" and I have to share!

A couple of weeks ago I shared about my wonderful, long time coveted, Christmas gift to myself and this week I want to share that......IT'S HERE!! Yipee!! I'm doing the jig, doing the jig, doing the jig!!! LOL Yes, you could rightly say that it really doesn't take much to make me happy, and I mean that literally, but this long awaited gift to myself makes me squeal with delight! So what is on my work desk this week?????? NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! LOL

Oh the glory of it all.....or none! LOL

Look my friends.....I have elbow room!!! I can ACTUALLY see the top of my desk! I was about to bust to get my new gift out of the box and put it together! And I did. I finished about midnight the night before last and had to FORCE myself to go to bed and not start cleaning my art closet! But alas, I did and last night I came home and began cleaning and organizing with my new found space!!

So you really can't tell about my space because of the angle of this shot and because my closet is so small I couldn't show more, but my cart is there for you to see with all it's glory and you can see that I have underneath storage units that are filled with goodies and then the storage units go to the left behind my Raskog cart down the wall as well. I have some space about my desk that you can see from the first photo that I smaller storage units and then the shelf above that, that you can't see, has journals and art books and magazines that I use as inspiration! I can't believe that I finally have this guy and all the space I have now on my desk! It's the best and I sure hope I can keep it that way! By the way, it was midnight when I finished again! LOL But in light of that......I did do a little crafting to test out my new space......

So as a part of several online challenges that I love to take part in, I am trying to finish up a journal page and an ATC! My last day at work until after the 1st is tomorrow, so I am going to try to get these both done and share tomorrow as I don't really have internet, except my phone, at home, so it's always hard to share from my house...I usually post from work (I know....bad me!) One day, I will get in this century! LOL

Well, in other news, yesterday was my 19th wedding anniversary! Yep, can't believe it! Seems like yesterday we walked in that little church! My hubby and I have been through some times together! Some bumpy and some amazing, but through it all, God has seen fit to bless us and keep us under His wing! I think the best thing we've done right through it all, is our two amazingly beautiful girls that I would walk through fire for! I'm sooooooo thankful for my life! :)

My husband drives a truck, so most weeks hes gone and then comes in on the weekends. But yesterday, it just so happened (thanks Father God), he was making a pass back through our town to get to Boca Raton, so me and my girlies hopped in the car and met him at the interstate for a romantic Anniversary dinner at the "Huddle House!" LOLOLOL Folks in the US know this is a breakfast stop, mostly on interstates, that is the farthest thing from romantic!! But, the thought was there and we had a good time! And....he got to see his girls! Here are a couple "romantic" anniversary shots for you! LOLOL

Well, I am sure I was wayyyy over my allotment with sharing, but just had to do it! I hope to post my challenges tomorrow guys! Happy WOYWW to all! :)

Blessings

WOYWW #445

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! It's FINALLY chilly here!!! I feel like it may beginning to look a lot like Christmas! LOLOL I'm not too excited......it's just a cold front that has gone through our side of the country, so we will see if it stays or not! Others have received lots of snow around my state, but alas, we did not! I love snow and miss it greatly! There's still time.....maybe Mother Nature will come through! LOLOL

Well as it's Wednesday, it's time for WOYWW over on Julia's blog Stamping Ground! Each week is time for wonderful goodies on fellow crafters desks!! I love playing along, making friends and gleaning from their inspiration! Won't you join along??? Hop on over to her blog and show your goodies as well!

I am going to show the finished product of what was on my desk last week! I have my tag challenge over on Tag It Tuesday on the Facebook page by the same name! I have enjoyed playing along with these taggers since it started and really enjoy each month's fun! This month the theme was Sparkle and Shine! Love it! Christmas has always been sparkle and shine, so an easy tag to do!

As usual, my phone camera NEVER shows the true color or in this case the "sparkle and shine" that was required for this month.....but I tell you, it's sparkle and shine all over!

What I had in my mind this month when I was making this tag was "sparkly" balls when you look through a "frosty" window! I love Christmas balls except the fact that they are EXTREMELY easy to break....I'm an expert!!! LOL

On this tag, I basically started with gesso on this tag which was red. I didn't do a heavy coat because I didn't mind that some of the red peaked through. Then I just got out some acrylics applying with my trusty brayer and some of my Caran d' ache crayons and applied directly on the tag and then activated with water. After that, wherever it looked like natural balls or ornaments, I just enhanced with paint to form the balls. Once I got the balls like I wanted, I then applied glitter modge podge all over. 

I then just embellished the balls with a little stamping and stickles. On the "joy" ball, the centerpiece is a wooden snowflake that I painted and then embellished further with glitter from Ranger that I love, love. I then shaded with my wonderful Faber Castell Big Brush Pens, put twine through to look like they were hanging, added ribbon and "poofs!" Voila!  Simple enough and as I said, you really can't see all the glitter and shine, but its there! One day, I will become a "real" blogger and have proper equipment! LOL

I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday and getting all of your Christmas shopping done! I haven't bought the FIRST gift yet......what????? Yep....I don't know what I am waiting on, but I better get to cracking! LOL I hope you all have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Blessings

WOYWW #444

Happy WOYWW all my crafty friends! This Wednesday is #444 over on Julia's blog Stamping Ground where she woooos us to reveal crafts or crazies on our desks!!! Mostly mine is crazies! LOL Go on over and check out crafters creativity around the globe and maybe join in! :)

I did not participate last week, it has been crazy around here since Thanksgiving! I went on our annual Thanksgiving camping trip the week of Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME! It was well over due and JUST THE RIGHT camping weather! Of course, I did what I do best while camping......sitting by the fire curled up with an awesome book......

When I came back last week, I came back to a desk of catching up and so could not post last week either! I haven't really been able to play a lot in my art closet, so I will show you "MY CRAZY" for WOYWW!!!

Yep, this is what it has looked like for a couple of weeks! You can see a WHOLE LOT of supply that I have been just too stinking lazy to put up!! The paint palette is new, I had gotten it and the watercolor paints before the holidays and have not put up and the rest is pretty much inks, embellishments, papers and bum tags that I just haven't thrown in their proper bins!


Now, I want you to get a good look at that desk because virtually the "small" space on the craft mat is the only area I have to work because a) all that crafty supply is on top of my table and b) all that supply is there because I have NOWHERE else to put it! LOL So, after two long years of hem hawing about making this purchase, I FINALLY decided to by myself this wonderful goody for myself as an early Christmas gift!! Yippeee for me! :) Now, the initial one I was looking at was the uber turquoise one that everyone has, but it was like $60, which is why I have been looking at it for two years! LOL But this wonderful cinnamon one I got for $25! HUGE difference!!! So next time you see my table all the goodies will be in my new IKEA Cart! I'll have ELBOW ROOM!!! YAYYYYYY!!!!


As I am the "ultra OCDer (is that a word?)," I had to clean up a tad because want to get cracking on my December art challenges! So after I cleaned up, this is what is now on my desk! LOL

I have turned over my tag that I am working on for Tag It Tuesday over on our Facebook Group and then I will get started on my journal challenge and my ATC challenge for the Pick A Stick Challenge for December!  Come on over and join in with us for those great challenges! Love seeing everyone's creativity!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and awesome rest of the week!! I will leave you with a few more pictures from our GLORIOUS camping trip! If you've never been camping, I encourage you to give it a go! There is NOTHING like being out in God's great big beautiful world with friends and loved ones! It's a blessing!

Home Away from Home!

Sharing nature with that little guy!

Beautiful colors all around!

My two beautiful babies!

Yep me and my book mate doing what we do!

Blessings!

WOYWW #441

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! It's the day of the week that we play along with Julia over on Stamping Ground and share what is on our desk! We'd love for you to travel all over the world with us as you gaze upon others's desk basking in their creativity! And, of course, share your goodies!!

Today, I am going to share a very special craft that I have made for my sister for her birthday! I've shared in the past how I craft just for fun and to gift others. So, of course, I like to share with my sister, whom I am very close with, to get her sweet encouragement and thumbs up. Well, she has seen my cross crafts (that I LOVE to make and bless others with) going out and so one day she says, "hey, where's my cross (with a little sad face, lol)?" She would always tell me how much she loved them, but it never dawned on me that she may want one?? I know....some folks it takes a brick!! LOLOL

So here is my cross that I made her!

So much love went into this gift because, as I said, we are very close, but this sweet spirit has been there for me like no other. When I was lost in this world we live in, she prayed for me like no other! And she NEVER let up! God puts those warriors in your life to stand in the gap when you don't have the strength to stand yourself! That's God's great love for us! I'm so thankful to Him and her! So, OF COURSE, I had to make her a cross for her birthday! :)

I started this cross by collaging scraps from my bin, which is one of my fave things to do! I get COMPLETELY messy when I collage, but that's what crafting is about for me and then the end result is TOTALLY worth it! As I was doing so, my eldest daughter came in my craft closet and wanted to know what I was doing....flying a kite, I said...ha ha ha....but I was stoked that she wanted to know because she doesn't usually want to know about my crafts. So upon hearing my story, she said, hey, why don't you use this stencil in some way! Well, as she doesn't usually participate, I said OF COURSE I WILL!! So I used some heavy gesso and put through that stencil right down the front, dried it and then gave the whole thing a coat of light gesso.

Afterwards, I pulled out some Lindy's sprays in various colors and the sprayed a fixative over it because I wanted to do other layers of acrylics, caran d'ache and rubs and didn't want things to move. When I was satisfied, I pulled out my other bin with assorted embellishments to find my center pieces. She is such an amazing woman of God, so with that thought, one of the wonderful words I would use to describe her is JOY!! She is so full of the joy of the Lord inside that it oozes right on out to the outside! I love being around that and grab every bit that I can! :) She's someone I admire and aspire to be like! I found a few more yummy embellishments  to create the center piece and voila!

It's finally feeling like "fall" here, although the verdict is still out! Mother Natures loves to play her tricks on us here and tomorrow could be back to 80! LOL But we will keep our fingers crossed. Fall, beckons me to pull out my beautiful Dulcimer and strum away. I don't pull it out as often as I should, but I bought it during a fall trip, so I guess that's why I put fall and dulcimer together! Along with turkey and dressing!!! LOL We leave Sunday to go on our annual Thanksgiving camping trip, so I know I will not be playing along next week due to no service and just general camping laziness! LOL But here's a strum out to everyone that you will have a most wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving as you reflect with friends and family! I for one am VERY THANKFUL for all of my online crafty friends! 

Blessings to you ALL!

It's Friday Somewhere!!!!!

Happy Friday all my crafty friends!! Friday is a glorious day......sad that we all seem to push as fast as we can to this glorious day, there's no telling how much we miss during the week because we are so focused on getting to Friday!!! LOL I know my brain and I'm sure I've missed a boat load! LOL

Today I am going to share an ATC (#PASCATC1117) as part of the Pick A Stick Challenge over on the Facebook Group by the same name.  Yesterday, I shared the journal challenge. If you do both the journal challenge and the ATC challenge, you are entered into a pool for a crafty surprise! Here's hoping I have some Irish smiling eyes this month! LOLOL

So the challenge for the ATC is pulled from the sticks pulled for the Journal Challenge. The good part about pulling from the sticks you have already pulled is that you don't have to tax your brain further with 3 more items to come up with! LOLOL Yea, that's the lazy mans mind! LOL So based on the three sticks pulled above, here is my ATC!

Ok, so as with the journal page......I take a few liberties about "how" I add things...hee hee! Don't come and get me Pick A Stick Crew! LOLOL  The first stick pulled was add a key....well, I added a key, but added it to a chipboard butterfly that I had glued some of Finnabair's glitter to that I knew I was going to put on the card. I used the same stamp set that I used in the journal for the "random stamp set" and stamp on my ATC for background texture along with some Lindy's spray through Tim's Harlequin stencil again. I also used some Distress inks around the edges.

I then adhered the Butterfly and then, I know I already had diamonds on the background, but it was out of order, so as the third stick called for add diamonds, I did so on the butterfly too! I had to at least "act" like I was complying! LOL  I then cut out and added the "Fall" from a great paper pad I got one time with all kinds of Fall goodies on it! Voila!

ATC's are easy peasy lemon squeezy! I love them because you can be creative, but it's not so intimidating as a journal spread or page can be. I often get the "deer in the headlights" look when I look at journal spreads, ha ha, but ATC's are a snap! Come play along and find your own ATC creativity!

I thought I would also share these quick ATC bacgrounds that I made from a failed card project I started and shared last week. I probably shouldn't say "failed," it just didn't go as planned. So when all else fails, back up and punt! LOLOL Either way it was fun and who knows what other projects will come out of them in the future!

Well I hope you have an AWESOME weekend. It's finally got a little "snap" in the air here in good old Georgia.....its been in the 80's...so I am enjoying it. But, Mother Nature has a way of teasing us and playing a trick on all of us Georgians.....here's hoping that she's relented and will allow us to wear a coat for a little while longer! LOL

Blessings to you!

WOYWW #440

Happy Wednesday all my crafty friends! It's time for another WOYWW over with Julia on Stamping Ground! Join in with us artsy folks if you'd like...the more the merrier, I'd say! 

I'm late in the game today my friends. I was out yesterday with my youngest with strep throat! Aren't our babies pitiful when they are sick? As a toddler, she had many a trouble with sinus infection and chest congestion until about three or four. It was mom's nightmare with every month in the doctor's office and antibiotics constantly. And then is just like that, she grew out of it! It was a blessing for us both! Every now and again, and she's thirteen now, she'll get a little something, but I'm happier with that all day long as opposed to what it used to be!! So I was out with her yesterday, so today, I'm playing catch up! Hope I will get around to see everyone's goodies!

So this was my desk yesterday afternoon and into the evening as I was home with my gal and was able to play in my art room for hours! I felt like a kid in a candy store and didn't know what to do with myself......at my child's expense to be sure, but I was still in hog heaven! LOLOL

So really what you are seeing here is a big mess! LOL But it's all in good faith that in the end, it will be my entry for the November Pick A Stick Challenge with the great gals over on the Facebook Group with the same name! If you want to join in on this challenge, check it out this months video and play along! 

The challenge is to create your art journal page going through the steps in complete order. You can do things in between, but the steps (or sticks pulled) for you to create, are to be in order. To be honest, I usually have fudge in at least one of the creative steps due to either not having supply or not knowing how to do?? LOL I realize, of course, that I am not in compliance! LOLOL This month was no exception!!! Right of the bat with #2, we had to add sewing or embroidery??????? I DON'T SEW...AT ALL!!! LOL So I pulled fibers from a burlap ribbon that I had and "glued" them down!! They look sewn, don't they??? LOL Yea, right!!!

So based on the "stick pulls" above, I had cut out circles from a magazine and circles from a newspaper to use. I had gesso'd my page first and then glued the fibers down. I had a chipboard key in my stash that I heat embossed with Wendy Vecchi's Watering Can. I put it on the page and then put heavy gesso through Tim Holtz's harlequin stencil to give the texture and it doubled for the diamonds in #7. I then picked the key back up (didn't say I couldn't pick it back up...hee hee) and added the newspaper circles over top

of the magazine cut out circles.

I loved #6 because the stamp set that I used I absolutely love! I got that stamp set on Ebay, which I searched for for some time before I could find it! I also got it for next to nothing! I had seen one of my fave's Rachel use them back in 2015 on a Christmas Card series she had done and I fell in love. At that time, they were discontinued, so initially I was sad, but then went on a mad hunt to find them!! And I did....woop, woop! I love them and use them often! Its a score for me because I never find anything! LOL 

I used some Lindy's Stamp Gang spray through the Tim Holtz stencil again to add some color and more diamonds. I also had some Grunge Board Letters from Tim Holtz and I painted an "A" to fulfill #9 and then I opted for the wild card stick to use the pipette to apply color to the fibers instead of doing #10. I added a pocket with some more diamonds and bling and voila!

It was fun and hopefully a kickoff to get me started back into the swing of doing my monthly challenges! I probably won't get to visit all of your pages until tomorrow, but I'll get there none the less!! Happy Wednesday to you guys! :)

Blessings

WOYWW #439

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends!! Wednesdays seem to come around quicker than you think these days! LOL This year, Wednesdays have brought a sad face for me because I haven't been able to post as much as I have wanted, but yay to me....I get to post AGAIN this week! Back to back Wednesdays is a HUGE feat for me! LOL I hope to check out all my crafty pals Wednesday goodies over at Julia's blog on Stamping Ground! Come join in with us!

This week, I am going to share an "actual" picture from my work desk! LOL I might share a project too! LOL I have had a little time on my hands and have been just messing around with some scraps and things on my desk to see the outcome. I see ideas online and think to try them every now and then. MOST of the time, it's a bust, but the fact that I like getting messy and playing is enough to pull me on through! LOL

A few things on my desk today. The card in the middle is from a pad that was gifted me as part of a RAK from a dear friend. I was so happy to get it because I haven't ever really worked on black card stock before and have always wanted to mess around with it. I also STILL want to get Dyan Reaveley's square black creative journal that has been on my "wish list" for some time. Maybe a Christmas gift to myself...who knows? hee hee Anywho....I had versamark stamped a butterfly and some background stamps on there to see how it would turn out. The butterfly didn't turn out so well, but the background stamps did ok. I always forget to use my white embossing power and love the affect it has, so not sure why I don't use it more often?

So the plan, since I didn't get such a good impression with the butterfly, is to use my Koi watercolors, in that stinking cute travel box and my Caran d'Ache Neocolors along with my Jacquard Pearl Ex Mica Powder Pigments to bring it all out for a crafty little background for something? Maybe a card? who knows! Such is the art of "playing!" LOL


Since I wanted to share a project as well, don't shoot me Julia, I thought I would share this quick tag I did as a part of my 'au revoir' to summer! I wasn't necessarily feeling blue, but was feeling like showing the vibrant yellow's falling into the warm pink of fall.....and then one last yellow at the end! Corny, I know, but, it's what I was feeling! LOL

This really was a quick and fun tag whereby I started with Tim Holtz tissue paper in the background followed by a layer of gesso and then as I had pulled out my Caran d'Ache, used them to apply color to the background. I round off the corners with Distress ink, set with a fixative and then used some flower stamps from Unity Stamps with Archival Ink in black and then painted them using my Caran d'Ache crayons. I then highlighted the flowers using some really fabulous pearlescent paints that  I have in my stash and then finished them off by embellishing with glass beads from Finnabair! Voila!

Well, that's it for me guys! I hope you all have an AWESOME Wednesday, and don't forget to go visit all the other talented folks over on Julia's blog!

Blessings

Fantastic Friday!

Hey all my crafty friends! Two posts in one week....woop, woop...I feel like a new woman! LOL As I mentioned yesterday, I have several projects that I had done, I just haven't had the time to post, so I have a lot of catching up to do!! I keep up with most of you crafty folks, even if its just a quick glance at Facebook or Google+, so I have been envious of all the gorgeous projects you all have been posting!! So I have my work cut out for me! LOL

Today, I will share a little project I did for a young lady at work who we had a baby shower for. I usually like "making" my gifts as opposed to buying them. Mainly because it's an opportunity to bless someone with a little bit of me, but mostly because I like receiving "handmade" gifts and so I hope others do as well. It just seems more personal to me!

I honestly didn't know what I was going to make her until I went into a local store and was going down an aisle and out of the corner of my eye saw these foam mat puzzle pieces that you buy for children to put together for learning! I had an aha moment! I love when that happens! I knew I had a
canvas board at home and I thought, I can make "something" out of anything, right???? So it went straight into the buggy and onto my craft table!! LOL

I knew that  her colors would be yellow and she also had a "Peter Rabbit" theme. So I pulled out the rabbit square....nothing like Peter Rabbit, but there you go, and a couple of the other animals that I thought were cute. Then I took one of the pieces I didn't like and painted it yellow, knowing I was going to embellish it. I then took my canvas board, and mod podged some paper doilies on to give it a little "frilly" because its for a baby girl whose name will be "Lily" and then placed a layer of gesso on top. I then just took a credit card and scraped a couple of different shades of yellow acrylic on top.

From there I just took out some stencils that I love and a few more
acrylics and applied to the top along with some Distress stains to have a yummy background. I got the idea to apply some twine across, like a clothes line, because I found these cute little clothes pins in my stash and thought It would be cuteness! I then hot glued the foam blocks over top. The top foam block is the one I painted and I simply added some stamping and distress stains on it and then sealed it with some glitter modge podge. I found sound Tim Holtz letters in my stash and painted an "L" in pink and then added some glitter for a little pop! Hung my little clothes pins and voila!!! How cute and simple was that??? 


I love doing fun projects that I know I want to give away. It somehow makes it more gratifying for me, especially when it's blessing someone else! God's gifts He's given us should always be given back out to bless someone else...that way He gets ALLLLL the glory! :)

Well, that's it for me today folks! Here's hoping you have an AWESOME fall weekend planned! It's not full blown fall here yet, but we are experiencing some really great cool weather here today in good old Georgia and seeing some leaves changing, but the great stuff is yet to come! Fall is my favorite time of year and so it light of that, I will show you what my favorite stance is in the fall and winter time.....check it out......

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!

WOYWW #438

Good Wednesday all my crafty friends! It's time for WOYWW #438....come tag along! :) LONG TIME no post, huh???? I know, I know, what in the Haley's Comet????? Well, it's the same song (as it has been all year) second verse!!! This has NOT been an "arty" year for me!! We am STILL dealing with my precious, precious Papa and his health and trying to get him to decide to go into an assisted living unit. So far, IT'S A NO GO! He's the most stubborn person I know, even for a man!! LOLOL So my sisters and I are still trying to manage him at his home rotating out our duties in taking care of him. Something like this is always an inconvenience when you have a full time job, and we all three do, and when you have your own family to take care of. Now the inconvenience is NOT a burden, because I completely love my sweet Papa, but I say that in the best way I know how! He just wants to stay home, but he SO needs to be in assisted living. Keep us lifted up in prayer dear friends. I seem to be acquiring a few more gray hairs lately! LOLOL

In good news, I have managed to intermittently visit my "art closet" and do some crafting. So I actually do have projects on my desk to show, I just haven't been able to post anything lately. So I will do a few here and there so as not to bombard a post! LOL Today, I will share a tag that I made recently as a part of the Tag It Tuesday Group over on Facebook. I have long been involved in this group, however this year it has been harem scarem due to my responsibilities with my Papa. So I was stoked to have one for the October Theme, which was NATURE (trees, leaves, birds, bugs, etc..).

As many of you know that have followed me for any time, that I LOVE doing tags. They simply are just my fave thing to do. I love journaling as well, but tags are just fun! I actually did two tags for this theme because I did one and then had an idea for another, so two for one! LOL

This first guy is a "regular" sized tag that I had actually used to mop up a mess with and then went from there. I had used some Tattered Angels on another project and since we "frugal crafters" don't like to waste (Mama always said..."waste not, want not!" hee hee) I mopped up the extra for this quick tag. I then dried it and pulled out my Distress Inks and inked it up with my FAVE fall colors. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year!! I then remembered that I had this old stamp set that I gotten in the "bargain bin" one time is a tree and separate stamps for the little leaves and I thought it would be cute to use. I stamped and heat embossed it all and voila! I like quick tags! LOL

The next tag is a large 4x8 tag that I had gotten as part of a RAK from my precious friend Wanda in Iowa. She sent me a HUGE pile of large tags and I absolutely LOVE using them because you can do a little bit more on them than you do with a regular tag. I had to apply a coat of gesso on this guy because it is actually a green tag and I didn't want it to show through. I then pulled out some more of my Distress Stains to mimic a fall sky and then sprayed a fixative over it because I knew I wanted to do some stenciling and shading, etc...and I didn't want the background to move. I have this great stencil from Wendy Vecchi that I just love and knew I wanted to use. I also used Wendy's great inks in her fall colors to do the tree and leaves. I also did some shading with Pitt Big Brush Pens and a fountain pen to do some scribbling on the trees and ground. I knew I wanted some little birds and remembered my other precious friend Zsuzsa had sent me the cutest stamp set as a part of a RAK that had the cutest little birds on it! Yippee for me, right? I then stamped the sentiment from a past Layers of Life Unity Stamp Set and voila! Another quick tag! Got to love it!

I actually got to sit next to her and be in a "selfie!" Ha

On another note, a couple of weekends ago I took my sweet daughter to Atlanta for her 17th Birthday! She just wanted it to be me and her and to enjoy "city life" with all the downtown sparkles, shopping and food! You're only 17 once huh? So we trekked off for a long weekend and stayed with my sister-in-law and her family and had a great time! I thought I'd share some photos from our wonderful weekend together! I must add that the time together was precious to me because at 17, she really doesn't EVER want to be around her "uncool" mother, so the fact that she would be seen in public with me, was a milestone to say the least! It was, however, short lived......once we got home, I became the boring VERY UNCOOL mom again! LOLOLOL Oh well, get it while you can! :)

Had to share this because she didn't know what a phone booth was! LOLOL

Gorgeous Peachtree Plaza

So, I must share that one of her main requirements was to see downtown lights at night and what better place to do that than from the towering Peachtree Plaza!! The elevator goes up the OUTSIDE of the building a whopping 72 floors! Now that may not be tall to some of you city dwellers, but let me just tell you, when you are in a glass elevator on the OUTSIDE of a building going UP, your first thoughts, at around the 10th floor, is LET ME OUT!!!! LOL I wanted to die! LOL I got dizzy, wanted to throw up and the whole time she's whooping up and laughing at me, all the while videoing our ascent!! I finally just closed my eyes and couldn't wait for the elevator doors to open! LOLOL Let me just express to you that I DID NOT GO BACK DOWN THE WAY I CAME UP! LOLOL The top is a beautiful restaurant and bar that rotates so you get a 360 view of Atlanta. It's gorgeous, ONCE YOU ARE UP THERE, but going down, INSIDE, was much better! LOLOL

From the top two of my favorite buildings in Atlanta

She saw that Ferris Wheel from the top and said she "had" to go see it. It's not as wonderful as the one in London, but it was pretty cool! The Ferris Wheel is actually across from the Olympic Park where the 1996 Olympics were held. The views at night in Atlanta are stunning! We had a grand old time and maybe in another 17 years, she will allow me to be seen with her again in public!! LOL

Well that's it for me folks! I've taken up more time than I should have....but then....I'm making up for lost time!!  Happy Fall, for most folks, I hope you are getting beautiful scenery wherever you live!

Blessings