Inspiration Elevator Guest Designer Post

Hi Everyone!  I'm thrilled to be the guest this month at Inspiration Elevator.  It's a fabulous group with an even more fantabulous group of ladies to work with.  Here's the scoop on what they're all about:

Our main purpose here at IE is to challenge ourselves, each other and YOU to take the creative process to the next level;  to inspire growth and change in our scrapbooking beyond the mundane.
You can catch us on Facebook  and share your creations there; we'd love to see how we have inspired you!

This month's challenge is issued by the talented Wendi Robinson. Her first time to issue a challenge for IE and it's a great one! Here is her challenge in her own words:

LOSS... One thing we as scrapbookers do is post about lots of happy things, wonderful moments, things that make us smile, and things we want to remember. Too many times we avoid scrapping the not so memorable, or sad times. Most of us have experienced a loss of some kind, whether is be a loved one- sometimes it's expected, sometimes the loss comes too soon and unexpected. Other times we lose a pet, a job, feel like we've failed at a situation, or loss of a friendship. This time, let's scrap those harder moments that come into our lives. Scrap about a LOSS of some kind.

So yeah, wow, quite the challege because we don't often scrap about loss, right?  At first I thought whelp I'll do a memory page about one of the many beloved pets we've lost over the years.  Then tragedy struck our house and we actually one of those beloved pets quite unexpectedly. :(  My sweet Bella girl went far too soon and we're not quite sure why, but she passed peacefully in my arms at home.

Here she is:

She was a family dog, but ultimately my sweetheart.  I miss her dearly and knew I wouldn't be able to scrap anything about losing a pet.  So on to plan B which was to scrap something a little more raw and real.

This is how my page started - heavy journaling about my chronic illnesses and how they essentially made me feel when I learned I could no longer work outside the home as a teacher/administrator, coach my daughter's soccer team, teach Sunday school, or do the things I normally was able to do with ease.  I'm diagnosed with lupus, gastroparesis, fibromyalgia, chronic daily migraines, Raynaud's Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, and so much more that comes with all those but I won't bore you.  To say I was devastated would be a major understatement.  I fell in to a depression and I didn't even really know it.  I kept plugging forward with a half smile on my face trying to the best I could for my family, hanging on to my faith the best I could, and trying to trust there was some type of reason for all this.

Seriously though?  I just felt lost.  My loss was of myself.  I didn't know who I was anymore.  My identity had become so wrapped in being a teacher, a mom that could do it all, a Sunday school teacher, a wife that was able to meet all her husband's needs and keep house, a friend that could do things, etc., etc., etc.  That was all gone! Gone!  I was sad, frustrated, confused, and yes angry.  But the sadness is probably what took over most.  I cried alone...... alot.  No one knew how much.

I worried how we'd pay bills going from a two income household down to one.  I worried about ever being able to function as a 'normal' person again.  None of illnesses have cures and the fact is one of them doctors don't even know how to deal with or adequately treat. :-/  I worried about being able to see my children grow up and still do on some days. The worry consumed me and as it did I found I had less and less people to turn to.  It's funny how you discover the peeps who will truly be in your corner when the chips are down.  When you can't kick it like you used to you'll know who your trues are, believe me.

So while I never thought I'd share this snapshot I took when I felt at one of my lowest points and turned my eyes up to God and literally cried out, I felt compelled to do so for this challenge.  The above photo I think sums it up pretty well.  I was shattered, depressed, and lost.  I felt I couldn't really tell anyone because everyone I knew knew me as such a happy being.  It finally took one of my doctor's nurses to say it was okay to be depressed in my situation.  Her exact words were "who wouldn't be?"  But even if someone isn't in my situation, it's still okay to be depressed. It's beyond a persons control when this happens, when this lost feeling takes over, and help needs to arrive in some shape or form.  I'm thankful for the day I received some kind words and the guidance to seek some help.  I have no shame in that.  

If you are in need of help or kind words, please know there is no shame and help is out there for you too!

Thank you for taking the time to read through my post, I know it's a bit heavier then what I typically put up and my LO isn't quite as whimsy, but the challenge called for this I think.  I'm also glad to say this photo was taken about 4 years ago now and life is much better.  I'm not going to say living with a heap of chronic illnesses is a bed of roses but I've learned how to adjust.

Now off you go to visit the rest of the lovely ladies to their amazing creations!

   Wendi Robinson

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Lisa Speigel

Ann Jobes

Jayne Morgan
Michelle Hernandez 

Guest Designer: Scarlett Salamone (happy you're here!)

Life's Tough

Hey There!  It's been busy, busy around here since Fall weather has decided to make an appearance a tad earlier than normal.  The chill in the air and and just under 40 degree mornings means we've been kicking it in to high gear to make sure the farm is prepared.  It makes for long days and a tired body at night that is for sure.  But I still have managed creative time and have back logged projects to share, so let's get to that shall we?

This page was created for ScrapFX and documents my baby girl's concussion she received playing softball, much to her dismay - ha!  The release of medical stuff from ScrapFX was perfect for my family sadly - yeesh.  We are a bit of an accident waiting to happen with two very active teens, a hubby that works with police dogs, and well you get the idea. ;)

I'm pretty smitten with the newer Ripples Stencil (2014155) and used it here to start off my background with some paste.  I thought it'd give the feeling of being dizzy you know??  Once it was dry I went over it with some paint and then added some stamping with the Spiral Spots Stamps (2014153)  to further the feeling.  The Life's Tough (2014183) wordlet was painted black and then splattered with some colored string gel.  I think it's definitely symbolic of all the chaos we were feeling at the time.  The string gel is also used throughout the page in other spots.

Here you can see one of those medical pieces in action.  This piece is from the ironically titled Ouch Pack (2014165).  I think it's kind of adorable for an ouch piece and would be perfect for little booboos on toddler type pages, etc.  But my big girl deserved it too. ;) 

Another piece from the Ouch pack and lots and lots of stars to compliment the ones on the other ouch piece.  I'm so glad I picked up a bunch of those mini stars ions ago when they were on clearance at Ms.  They're terrific to splatter on a page every now and then, a big mess to do so, but worth it. :D

So yeah life can be tough when you're a teen and catch a concussion playing the sport you love, but you live through it, your mom scraps it, and then you die a thousands deaths because gasp! the whole world is going to see the picture you already posted on FB.  LOL.  Ahh well, what'cha going to do??

I hope you all have beautiful days!  I'm off to do more chores on the farm and delight in the fact that the sun is at least shining.  Take care and remember ScrapFX is still having their DT call!!

Smile and the World Smiles With You - Canvas

Hello!!  My oh my, it's been quite the long time since I've blogged but it's time to blow the dust off and share up some creations again - wahoo!

Today's creation will give you a little insight as to what has been keeping busy over the past several months and let me tell you, it has been so worth it!

Meet Penelope, she is one of the Nigerian Dwarf goat kids we brought on to our little farm we started up this spring.  Yes we started up a farm!  Super exciting and a whole lotta work - phew.  It only seemed appropriate one of my first creations after being away from my crafty space for what seemed like foreva' would be to showcase one of my farm cuties - showing off a cheesy grin too, ha!

 

 I started constructing my little country scene by adding in some stamping using my ScrapFX stamps.  The cloud stamps are hand carved ones I made using the Clouds and Raindrops stencil as a template and the flower stamps are the foam ones available in the store.  The chipboard piece here is one of my favorites, it's a fairly new release and there are a whole bunch of pieces similar to this one but using different large words and smaller phrases below. The font is so fun and I love the perfect print below, don't you?

To create the background of the canvas I worked some layers and added my various acrylic paints.  I love being random and messy during this stage.  No real plan just slapping on the mediums.   I also knew I wanted to use one of the little mini suns here but it just wasn't cutting it on it's own, worked out perfectly inserted in the paperclip sun though.  Love it when I can seek out layering tidbits on my table like that. The leaves were also stamped from ScrapFX foam stamps and then colored with various shades of Neocolors, watered down to blend, then fussy cut to be added to the canvas.

Don't you just love Penelope's cheesy grin?  She is such a little sweetheart!  Definitely worth the time away but am so glad to be back.  Still feel like I need to find my full creative again but it'll come.  I've got more things to share and am slowly finding my way in to routines between 34 chickens, 5 goats, one of which is in milk so I milk twice a day, gardening galore to try and replace a good amount of my family's food, and oh did I mention piglets will be coming to the farm in November??  Ahahaha!  I love this life and can't wait to share it with you through my art.

Take care dear friends, be blessed.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! - Skissedilla April Sketch

Hey There Scrappy Peeps!  Its a new month and that means a fab new sketch is up for you to play along with on the Skissedilla blog!  

This month's sketch was created by the lovely Linda O.  I'm thinking this one will be used again in a variety of ways - it was super fun and my page came together in a snap, no easy feat for me - for reals!

I had such fun this month using some spectacular papers sent to us from Studio Tekturek.  These papers are wonderfully thick and I delighted over all the bold colors and various designs to choose from.  They were certainly the perfect choice for these hilarious and sweet photos of my girly and her BFF from a photobooth.  Girls do just wanna have fun, don't they?  

Here you can see the patterns and colors of the papers a bit better.  The one thing I get a bit bummed over about creating 8.5x11 pages is the struggle in posting pictures on the blog that are big enough without overloading people's browsers - ha!  So forgive me if I overload you with closeups.

For the background I layered up some gesso rather messily and allowed it to dry.  Then I slapped on some acrylic paint in messy fashion and added in some ColorShine using a credit card.  To break up the mass of yellow with a touch orange I sprinkled on some glass beads and added in some neutral stars and clear pink sequins.

For the title I cut apart a 2x3 card included on a 12x12 sheet of the papers from Studio Tekturek and used a strip from the bottom of a 12x12 piece for the Sweet Memories portion.  I seriously can't believe how many bottom strips with great wording/design I've tossed away in the past.  I need to incorporate these little treasure strips a bit more I think.

One last shot showing off the word blah - I just had to include it because it made me giggle.  I loved the card filled with all the blah, blah, blah words and quickly cut one out for this corner.  I added a cut out star and ScrapFX  mini feather to balance it all out and a trickle of little glass beads and some mist splats.

 

Like I shared earlier this was a really quick scrap - well at least for me - I didn't labor over this page for days on end - LOL!  I know its because the Skissedilla sketch made it really simple for me to get going with an idea and run!  I do hope to see you join us.  We have a great selected scrapper this month, the other DT have terrific inspiration for you to check out as always, and there is a fun RAK up for grabs!!

Skissedilla #232 - King of Our Jungle

A new month means a new sketch is up at Skissedilla.  #232 is cool and funky, leaving lots of room for your creative wings to stretch.

The lovely Nabon created this one and we can't wait to see what you come up with.

I decided to warm things up a bit around here and create a page about the King of our Jungle - haha!  This lil' kitty is soo furry and truly looks like a little lion as he struts his stuff about the house.  I was so glad to capture this photo of him as he was lounging on my lap.

I put my ScrapFX Hexagonal Pattern Stencil (2013167) to work on the background with some paste and blotted it with a variety of paints in both matte and metallic colors.  While that was drying I went to town stamping my leaves using the ScrapFX Leaves A Simple, Stamps (2013344) with black paint on my Amy Tangerine patterned paper - still love this line.  I then cut these all out and arranged them.

Next I began altering all my jungle animals to go along with the theme of the page because how can you have a jungle theme without some wildlife, right?  The lion was done up with metallic paint for the body and metallic paint mixed with texture paste for the mane.  The giraffe was painted with a combo of regular acrylic and metallic paints.  The gorilla - even though he is hard to see :( - was done using some black lava paste.  He has a really cool texture that is very gorilla like. The giraffe, gorilla, and rhino (not shown here) are from the ScrapFX Zoo Animals Pack (2012235) and the lion is from the Cat Family Pack (2012225).  I love that you can make these pieces look realistic with a few simple touches.

Here you can see a bit of the rhino - he was altered using some coarse texture paste mixed with a combo of metallic paints for the body and had his horns colored with a white gel pen.  You can also see the various layers, bits and bobs of sequins, jewels, buttons, and punched bits used to pull the rest of the page together.  Yes, I had a bit of fun with this one for shiggity. 

I hope you'll have some fun too and join in at Skissedilla.  Come check out what the rest of the DT created, along with our selected scrapper, Riikka!!  She even has a video to share of her process - you don't want to miss that.  Plus we have an amazing sponsor this month - Studio Tekturek - and I know you'll want to try and win some of their gorgeous papers.  I can't wait to get my hands on some. :)

Until next time, take care! 

Its February - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year??! Yikes, yes I know its been a bit but January was a wee bit rough round here, as it was for many peeps.  

The bitter, frigid weather definitely took its toll and gave us plenty of work to do keeping up with our kennel to ensure the dogs were always safe and comfy cozy.  And just in case you can't tell that temp reads -22 which was without windchill. Blah - so done with winter here!

There has been lots of this too - plenty of frozen and bursting pipes.  Nothing like hearing a waterfall letting loose in your wall in the middle of the day!  Haha - I joke - but I was freaking my beak at the time for real.  All I could think of was our well running dry.  A little over dramatic am I? Perhaps, but it was bad.  Hubs had to leave work and make the hour drive home since I couldn't get the frozen shut off valve to budge. Sigh.  

I've learned to Embrace the Moment.  I've been creating in amongst all this - but blogging and most social media has just eluded me.  A lot of times things have either been running slower than molasses or not at all due to high winds.  Its okay..... 

Embrace the Moment.  This tag is one of three I created with some inspirational sayings on them featuring ScrapFX chipboard, stamps, and stencils.  I'll share the rest soon.  The thought is to set these free with some happy mail - so glad it looks as if that can finally happen this month. 

Also on the tag front is the little mini I created for a Guest Spot on the Scrapbook Creations Magazine Blog.  You can find Part 1 of my posting here and Part 2 of my posting here.  Part 3 will be featured next week Wednesday.  Super thrilled to be over there with such outstanding talent.  I'd love for you to pop on over if you feel so inclined.

Thank you so much for visiting today!  I have indeed missed blogging and look forward to sharing oodles of things over this coming year with you.

Take good care!! 

Give Thanks Canvas

I'm ever thankful for the many blessings in life and with Thanksgiving soon upon us here in America I thought it would be fitting to share how thankful I am for each and every one of you, my creative friends, that come here and visit.  

For you I.....

for all the encouraging words, sweet notes, laughs, and hugs sent through cyberspace.  For cards, packages, tags, and happy mail sent.  For friendships built and prayers uplifted, I give thanks to you.  These are things I cherish and could have never expected when I dived on in to the online world of scrapbooking/blogging some years ago.  It never ceases to amaze the kind hearts of papercrafters near and far.  

As you head in to Thanksgiving I wish you a blessed day with your family, and the same even if you won't be celebrating this feast.  May you be reminded what a treasure you truly are.

May you have time to just be still and thankful for all the wonderful blessings you have right here, right now.

Take good care and Happy Thanksgiving!

ScrapFX Product Used:

Random Dots Stencil (2013172)

Leaves, mixed (2008106)

Leaf Buttons, mini (2010007)

Flourish 05 Curl Border (2013204)

A Work in Progress Canvas & a New ScrapFX Challenge for You!

Its been a lot of fun (and work ;) ) creating things I hope people will find delight in looking at and perhaps purchasing for market.  The super thing is I can do this while knocking out some assignments at the same time - bonus!!

This month we have another Mood Board Challenge going at ScrapFX for fans to join in on.  There isn't a need to have ScrapFX product to participate - super cool if you do though!!  The Designers all partake in the challenge as well and post their take on the board as well as the twist given by the board creator - gotta have a twist to make it more interesting, right?  This month's twist is to use stencils, easy peasy except there are so many splendid ScrapFX stencils its hard to narrow down which to choose. 

For my take I was inspired by the rainbow colors, of course, I mean how could I not be??!!  This blog oozes color - ha!  Then I was also inspired by the eye on the board and that spun in to the creation of the girlie on this canvas - from there I let my imagination go wild giving her a little scene.   Since I don't live near the ocean, like the board image shows I went with the country life instead. :D

* I will share this piece isn't fully finished.  Its about 95% done and there are still some finishing details I want to fuss around with to complete it.  Not wanting to force and be unhappy with the finished result I left it as it was for now and will have it complete by the end of the month when I post my personal reveal.

I created my girlie's afro by using the ScrapFX Cogs Stamp with some colored heavy gesso and stamping it onto the canvas.  I then went back in with watercolor once this was completely dry to fill in the rest of the color.  In the background I used the Random Dots stencil to give the sky some texture and I went around the girl's head with some glitter glue to help it stand out against it.  I wish this showed up better....arrrgghh!!

Here you can see the Crosswords Stencil in action.  This was the first time I'd used it and I really am diggin' the effect it gave and the ease of use - I thought perhaps I'd have a struggle controlling where I put the paste, but nope.  Maybe my circle obsession will be shared with squares now - teehee!!  I adore those little chippie apples and kind of wish they were sold on their own....hmmm... maybe I shall suggest that. Some stamping and lots of paint layers make up the grassy areas along with some pen work.  

And that is where I've left off.  Still not exactly sure what details I'm going to add but have been playing with a few things here and there.  Any suggestions of what you think miht just absolutely make this?  I'm thinking I may want to add text or a quote or a ScrapFX wordlet - just can't decide what will fit yet.  The grassy areas need to be broken up more......sky too..... so holla' if you have ideas I'd love to hear them.  :)  I'd also love to see you playing along with the challenge!!!  This is the last one we'll be having for a couple months as we head in to the Christmas and holiday season so get in while you can for your chance to win some great goodies!!!

Until next time, take good care and thanks so much for stopping by!

Seize the Day - Skissedilla #228

Happy Monday Peeps!  Its a new week, new month, and there is a new sketch up at Skissedilla along with some new changes.  

Instead of having weekly sketches posted to the blog there will now be just one monthly sketch with the entire DT posting inspiration for that sketch. That is a heap of eye candy!!  Of course there will still be a selected scrapper, this month the we have the spectacular Michelle of My Analog Life joining us - Yahoo!!  The blog will be written in both Norwegian and English - so excited about this since I've been working on my Norwegian since I first joined the team - and we do hope this will help more scrappers from around the globe play along with us regularly! Now on to my take for October :D

I couldn't wait to get going with this sketch.  I had all sorts of ideas and when it came down to it - I did none of the ones I had in my head - ha! Crazy.  I wanted to do something different and just started playing with my background.  Lots of watercolor, acrylic paint, paste, and NeoColors II were combined to get this look along with my current fav ScrapFX stencil - Random Dots.

I knew I really didn't need a lot of extras/embellishmets for this page and I started by adding the hot air balloon sticker.  From there I busted out the sequins which you can obviously tell I had fun with, LOL.  My daughter even helped out by digging for gold in a huge bucket-o-sequins I have.  Then I added in some cheesecloth under the photo to soften the background a bit and draw more attention to the photo.  

To finish off the page I stamped some leaves with metallic paint using the ScrapFX Leafy Stem Stamp on some text patterned paper, outlined, cut them out, and tucked them under the photo.  The ScrapFX wordlet title was colored with NeoColor in red to bring that back out and match the balloon up top, stamped randomly, highlighted with a white gel pen, and adhered to the page to complete it. 

Now its time for you to head on over to the Skissedilla blog to check out the rest of the inspiration waiting there for you - oh goodness it will blow you away - so fortunate am I to scrap with such an amazing group of ladies, love them to bits. I do hope to see you join on in with the sketch challenge too!  You have the entire month of October to play along so plenty of time to get that mojo flowin' and page pumped out! 

Have a super start week and take good care! 

Project Life Inserts

Happy Friday Peeps!  Its been a bit since I've shared any Project Life haps here since I took a kind of hiatus from blogging over the summer.  Life still happens though - funny how that works huh?  I've kept on and my album and ways of doing things is ever evolving.

Card created using ScrapFX Seed Stem and Field of Flowers stamps

 In this post I shared a bunch of sneaks of projects relating to my recent obsession with stamping and need for finding making time to create everyday.  A lot of them were actually bits from Project Life inserts I created.  You see I've found what actually makes me the happiest about Project Life is truly bringing my own art/spin to it and treating it more as an art journal of sorts.

 

ScrapFX Feather Stamp

 

Not only do I get to have a customized look by doing this, but I find that the quotes, imagery, and colors are all more suited for what I want to express.  Rather than trying to fit my family in to a kit, I'm creating a kit that fits my family and there is truly something magical about that! 

Card created using ScrapFX Feather Stamp and Random Dots Stencil

Plus there is the added bonus of artful play time!  I get to take 15-20 minutes and play with goops to create some inserts I think will suit photos I know I've taken - and yes I admit not all the inserts I create are made with certain shots in mind and that is okay too.  I have fun creating them and know that at some point I'm sure I'll use them - if not well at least I created art I enjoy for the day.  The main thing here is I'm doing something I feel is meaningful and that is what I want my album to really express - meaning.  I want the stories to be told through my pictures, journaling, and I want the 'filler' cards to be meaningful little expressions created by me too.  

I'm not saying I won't ever use a store bought journal cards intended for Project Life - I have indeed purchased some - for now though they have found life on regular cards and I love the addition they add there.  I'm not knocking on people who use them either because I adore a lot of various Project Lifers styles out there believe that!  This is just me sharing what works for me and makes me happy. 

 

To see some pages I actually photoed of September haps around here you can head on over to ScrapFX here where myself and fellow DT member Michelle have some pages posted.

 

If you're doing the Project Life thing I'd love for you to leave me a link so I can check out how you do your thing - like I said I admire and enjoy anyone takes on this task.  Its a true labor of love.

 

Until next time, take good care!!  

 

Getting Pinned - Skissedilla #226

Hi There!  Its a new week and that means a new sketch is up at Skissedilla for you to play along with.  This week the lovely Nabon created this beauty for us to work with:

Totally gorgeous, right?  I sat and looked at it for a bit wondering what to do.  I'm not necessarily a flower gal, but I'm warming up to them I must say.  I also have some amazing dies in my stash that could surely use a workout so I figured why not play up the flower angle a little since I had the perfect pictures for it.

 This series of photos of my son 'getting pinned' with his flower before the Snowball Dance (the one where the girl asks the guy) seemed very fitting for a flowery type LO.  Not that I went overboard with heaps of flowers but for me having any type of flower cluster be the main embellishment is huge LOL!  I must say though I had a ton of fun playing with my flower dies again and I need to make some time to just sit and create some flowers so I have them available.  Much more practical then doing it LO by LO.

 Here you can see the background texture and lots of the details in general better.  I used acrylic paints and watercolors to create the various blue tones and then went over that with a Ronda Palazzari Designs stencil and some paste.  This same stenciled design is used in the corners of the LO also.  I brought in the pinks and greens by using some glitter glue and my finger and added some confetti bits and gems.  The chipboard piece was dry embossed, coated sparsely with gesso, and then highlighted with some gold, and outlined.

The dies I used are from My Favorite Things, chipboard is ScrapFX, and the leaves are made from a hand carved stamp and some paint.  The lines that are highlighted in black would be negatives when stamped but the paint smooshed a bit so I highlighted. ;) 

To share the back story on these photos before I go - starting at the top is my son and his date.  She was trying so hard to get the flower on him without poking him and to have it look nice - didn't work.  Then I tried to get the flower on him.  I didn't worry so much about poking him, I just wanted the thing on him.  I got it but it wouldn't stand up straight.  Next his date's mom tried - that is the photo with the doodled border around it.  She couldn't get it either!  Finally one of his buddies came over and said I can do this.  I was all thinking in my head - yeah right - but by golly he did it!  No poking of the skin, the flower stood up straight, and looked great.  Who would've thought.  We all had a good laugh over it and then declared the next time the better option would be a magnet attachment - did you know they make those now??!  Totally cool and much easier - ha!

Well thanks for letting me share that little story, ahh the joys of high school right? I do hope you join us at Skissedilla this week.

Take good care!  

 

 

Summer Haps and a ScrapFX Canvas

Hi There!  Boy oh boy its been hot, hot, hot and you know what??  I'm not complaining one wee bit.  I'll take this heat over being cold any day for real.  

My little chickadee, a.k.a niece, was here for some days along with my nephew, and we had to make a shopping run to get some things for while they were here.  On top of the list were foam water blasters for keeping cool!!! The bean bag in the back was already set to be bought for my daughter's room ;)

Bubbles were a must have as well!!!  And yes my lil' chickadee is wearing mittens in this photo - ha! 

And you know what? Having a big cousin with a job is totally cool because when you hit up the mall (this was on the day we picked them up because there isn't one in our area) he not only gets himself a hat but he gets you one too!!  So proud of my guy.  It was the perfect thing to have for watching the soccer game big cuz' was in later that evening. 

So yeah it was totally fun having these kiddos here with us for just under a week - really bummed to see them go.  My baby girl went with them to help watch the Chickadee while her mama works throughout the rest of July and then they are all moving to South Carolina. :(  Thank goodness we'll see them lots before that time!!  

So it seems appropriate that today I share with my full reveal of the canvas I made recently for ScrapFX using lots of the mini chippies and tons of their alphas.  My niece and nephew are definitely sunshine to my day and having them here was absolutely delightful.

To see more detail on this canvas and the products used you can check out the full reveal here.

Thanks so much for letting me share some pictures and memories of whats been going down around here, along with a scrappy project - how has your summer been??  

I'll see you in a just bit with new things and a re-energized outlook on blogging!!!  I can hardly wait to share all I've been thinking of and I hope you'll be looking forward to it too!!

Take good care sweetie peeps!

Golden Skies - Skissedilla Summer Sketch

Hey Sweetie Peeps!  Its been a bit and I do apologize for that.  Right now I've got some things in the works taking up my time - very exciting, but can't share just yet - and I also am working out some ideas on how I want to change things up here.  There is so much I want to share (tutorials, AJs, tags, altered art, canvases, scrap pages, life moments, cards, PL, etc.) yet always to tend to fail/flop in doing so and my goal is for you to get so much more out of coming here. So yeah as The Brady Bunch would say, "When its time for change, you've got to rearrange...." Does anyone out there remember that song? Ha! 

For today though I'm sharing the Skissedilla Summer Sketch created by the wonder woman of sketches, Nabon.  This sketch has a longer running time than our normal weekly ones so there is plenty of time for you to join in and I do hope to see lots of you joining in!

For my take I did a little rearranging of the photos but other than that I followed along with the sketch fairly well.  Of course I had to use some summer photos and chose some from last year when we were driving home from a family outing.  The sunset was gorgeous and much to my kiddos dismay I had my hubs pull over when I noticed one of my favorite herds close to the road.  I so love cows!!!

My background is made up of some messy painting and stenciling with paste, easy peasy.  Then I layered on a piece of text paper I used for misting over.  This is one of my little tricks - I use text paper in the box I mist in then I have it for later use.  The colors blend themselves as I go along and I always have beautiful pieces at the ready.  The sun up top is a hand-carved stamp stamped on canvas with metallic paint, chipboard is ScrapFX, and the rest of the page is really put together with just bits and pieces.

 

And that my friends is how my summer sketch page came together.  Be sure you head on over to Skissedilla to check out the rest of the team's inspiration and get on creating a page of your own too!!

I'll be back with a ScrapFX share and then there may be a break again while I continue to work on revamps.  Hang in there with me sweetie peeps, good things to come!

Have wonderful days, take good care!!!