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