December AJ Page-Winter Memories

Hello friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas in whatever way you chose to spend it! It was wonderful to celebrate the season with loved ones for sure! So many memories were made this year and lots to celebrate!

Speaking of “Memories”, this will be my last Art Journal Page and my collaboration with the monthly “SMASH OUR STASH” Art Journaling. I’ve collaborated with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) to join in. (Check out her page HERE!) Here’s my final AJ page with the DECEMBER prompt of “MEMORIES”:

I thought that the “memories” prompt would be a good one to use for the end of the year. It’s a way for me to reflect back at all of the memories that were made throughout the year. Plus, with the winter weather outside, it’s a good time to stay indoors where it’s warm and rock a baby perhaps!😉 When my new grandson came over, it was a pleasure to rock him in the very same rocking chair that I had rocked my children in as well! This brought up special memories of my grown children now with their own baby! So I made a scene with winter outside, rocking my baby and the grandfather clock I have next to it. (Which is a similar scene from my home.)

BACKGROUND: I started by printing out the poem on a piece of cardstock in brown and then cut it down to the side 8.5″ x 5.5″ with the poem being in horizontal to the left.

I took some masking paper and ripped a piece that would fit over and cover the poem so that I could do some watercolor. Before the watercolor began, I took a “gears” stencil and covered up the top right corner with dimensional paste and let it dry. Once it dried and the poem still covered with masking paper, I used my Zig Kuretake watercolor to go over the background by creating a floor and going over the paste. I also did some splattering brown watercolor and white opaque Copic ink. while the mask was still on, I also took a background stamp and randomly stamped in brown ink over some of the areas. Then I used the same brown ink and sponged around the edges. Lastly, I took some gold metallic paste to go around the edges as well as the texture on the stenciled paste.

For the images, I found a watercolor image of someone rocking a baby and printed it out and fussy cut it out to pop up with foam tape on the page. I used Copic markers to create more of the stars underneath the image as well as “grounding” for the grandfather clock. (This way I knew where my “flooring” would be.)

The grandfather clock was a sticker from my stash and then for the window, I stamped it with brown ink over kraft cardstock and then again in white cardstock. I did this so that I could cut out the center of the window to make it show what’s going on outside which is winter! I stamped snowflakes and used my Copic to create a cold looking window with snow shadows! I also used some blue ink to randomly stamp some snowflakes around the page next to the poem.

Here’s a closer view of the poem. I’ve seen this poem when my children were babies themselves and I’ve always loved it. The “memories” sentiment came from a rub-on transfer in my stash.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my page today and I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the pages that both Carol and I have shared throughout the last THREE years! Wow, can’t believe that was how long I did these! I really enjoyed the process!

Thanks so much for stopping by as I really appreciate your thoughts! I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Winter (hope my snowflakes are enough to convey this!)
Creative Artiste – #122 Anything Goes with Mixed Media

Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve and it’s almost here! Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Hope that you enjoy the warmth and excitement of the season with the ones you love.

This is a Christmas card I had made last month using some Scrapbook.com products that I wanted to try out! If you take a look at THIS POST, there is another card version using this same ornament stamp set. I had gotten the Holiday stamps and dies plus papers and other die cut sentiments in a bundle.

On another note, I had made a set of 18 other Christmas cards that I totally forgot to take photos of and they’ve already been sent out! I like how they turned out and was happy to use some more papers from my stash anyway! LOL

I had also been making some Christmas here and there throughout the year that I did remember to take photos of and that I didn’t share here on my blog, so here are some more:

This was a fun mitten shaped snowman gift card holder/tag I made back in January. I think I may have already given this out too. That was a while ago, so don’t remember much about it!

I made a slimline style tri-fold card in February using a My Favorite Things image (the little girl). I ink blended a stencil on the front and the sentiment was printed out on the computer. The photos below are what it looks like when you open the card up:

Click on photos to enlarge if you’re on my website

I used a circle die to cut the openings and added a snow drift from glitter cardstock for the girl to stand on, on the inside panel. The last inside circle panel was stamped with a snowflake stamp and I colored the snowflakes with a white gel pen and then added a stamped greeting underneath it.

This is an actual greeting card that opens up, but I made the front of the card look like a post card with the stenciled edges and post markings on it. I made this one last month.

I colored up this digital image from Whimsy Stamps and hand cut it out over the card. The sentiment was printed from the computer and cut out as well.

Another card I made last month using one of my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp sets called Winter Skies. I also used the Stitched Mountain Borders dies for the background.

I ink blended a couple of blue colors for the main panel in the background, stamped the Santa and sleigh image in black and then arranged the mountain border. I added a piece of vellum and used a falling snow embossing folder over it before adding the snow hills with glitter cardstock over it. I covered the edges with a gold mirror cardstock frame and added to the red A2 top folding card base. I colored, cut out the critters and trees and placed them on the scene. Lastly, I white heat embossed the sentiment from the set and cut out with a banner die to place under the critters.

I almost forgot to take a photo of this one too, but it’s now hanging on the tree before it gets gifted.

I had to make a handmade ornament for my grandson’s first Christmas! It’s actually a wooden shaped ornament that I painted the back red and the top/sides in gold acrylic paints. I then used some snowflake paper and covered the front. Then I turned this into a shaker by adding an additional circle with acetate on the front. The Santa comes from a Doodlebug stamp set and the lettering was printed from the computer that I hand cut and added to the front.

And this is the little guy at Thanksgiving with me! Love that toothless smile! Looking forward to spending some time with him at Christmas for sure!

Wishing you lots of joy and smiles for Christmas! Thanks for dropping in!

November AJ Page-Time

Hello friends and happy weekend! Monday will be the first of December already! Wow, time seems to be going so fast especially at the end of year! This is exactly what my page was inspired by in this post!

Last Saturday of November brings us to the monthly “SMASH OUR STASH” Art Journaling. I’ve collaborated with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) to join in. Here’s my AJ page with the NOVEMBER prompt of “TRADITIONS”:

This is a little different type of style, but most of the time I just come up with whatever happens to pop into my head and hopefully with older items I have from my stash!

This may not seem like I’ve used the “traditions” prompt for this month, but if you look at the wording at the bottom of the pocket watch, It says “Sentimental Traditions”. I was thinking of “old timey” type of things and the story about traditions on my page comes from my family going to our favorite place every fall for picking apples and now my children go every year as well, so it’s fun to know they’re still enjoying the same tradition we had with them.

For the background: (size of Mixed Media paper is 5.5″ x 8.5″) I ink blended with brushed corduroy oxide ink and spritzed with water to create the watermarks. I stenciled the dots with fired brick oxide and went around the edges with black soot oxide. I added some background paper to the other side that has the apple tree and then I added the paper doll couple over top and then added the “TIME” lettering that was die cut with black cardstock above them. I also sponged around the edges of the apple tree paper with black soot oxide. I added a gold metallic sticker line in the center between the paper and ink background.

I took a really old Whimsy Stamp stamp set with the pocket watch stamp and stamped it with black ink and then used a pen to write the words: “TIME has a way of showing us what matters.” I then stamped a couple more of the pocket watch image in brushed corduroy oxide and then splattered some gold watercolor over right side of the page.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – A Moment In Time
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No cards
Creative Artiste – #121 Anything Goes Mixed Media

October AJ Page-Magical Potion

Hello friends and happy weekend! It’s the last Saturday for this month and next week will be November 1st! Can you believe it?! We’re nearing the end of the year, but I’d like to stop and enjoy the wonderful Autumn season right now while it’s here!

Last Saturday of October brings us to the monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” OCTOBER prompt of “MAGICAL”:

I couldn’t let this month go by without adding in a Halloween themed AJ page! I love making them and getting out lots of dies from several different companies that made this one a fun project to pull together.

Background: I used an 8.5″ x 5.5″ piece of Mixed Media cardstock and blended the background in various colors using a light yellow for the center where the window is open and the cauldron is brewing up something magical!

I then took a cogs and wheel stencil and sponged on some gold ink in various places. I took a cool background stamp from Whimsy Stamps called Vintage Wallpaper and stamped it in random places. I also cut a strip of wood plank background paper from my stash to add at the bottom of the page. I then took my gold ink pad and swiped it around the edges of the page.

Die Cuts: The large spider web cut from holographic paper, the witch, the fire, and cats all came from Whimsy Stamps. The Cauldron and potion bottle came from Taylored Expressions, the window came from Simon Says Stamp and the wood under the cauldron came from Lawn Fawn. For some of the pieces, I ink blended or added a gold highlight to the edges. For the potion bottle, there is a tiny label on it that says “Moon Dust” with a moon on it. (It’s hard to see in the photo.) I added some glitter to the contents. After ink blending the flames, I covered it with a glitter brush pen.

I took a marker to added some shadows under the witch, cat and cauldron. I took some yellow sequins and added it under the potion bottle to make it look like she’s added it to the potion. Lastly, I took a couple of Tim Holtz sentiment clippings to add to the scene.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today! I had fun with it! Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Steampunk/Halloween or both
Creative Artiste – #120 Anything Goes Mixed Media
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No Cards
Penny’s – #608 Anything Goes Using Paper
Little Red Wagon – #830 Not a Card

September AJ Page-Quiet Beauty

Hello friends! I do not even know where this month went! Wow! I guess life has a way of keeping us busy and sometimes we just need to make time to take time. I do hope that you’re having a great September month and looking to the Autumn season. It’s my favorite season to be out in…I still need the cooler weather though! I’m hoping for it soon!

Can’t believe it, but it’s time for another monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” SEPTEMBER prompt of “WOOD”:

Although the temps are still unseasonably warm right now, I’m dreaming of those pretty Autumn colors and cooler temps! I decided to get lots of inks out and make a background for this one to display my leaves across it.

For the background: I started with a kraft piece of cardstock measuring my usual 8.5″x 5.5″ size and then at every 3/4″ I scored a line across the longer side edge. So, using the score marks with the texture line facing up at me, I swiped a few colors of distress inks in Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge and Black Soot. I then took a flat DRY paint brush and brushed down over the ink marks I swiped to brighten the colors. It’s such a simple technique to make a background!

I definitely “shopped my stash” this time and pulled out a VERY old Stampin’ Up! stamp set called “Wonderfall” and the Bigz die to cut them out. Those were the days where we didn’t have a MISTI tool to help us line stamps up! LOL It’s much easier now with the MISTI! So I splattered all of the leaves after the die cutting and stamping with metallic gold watercolor, brown and white Copic Opaque white. I arranged them all over the background and attached them.

Here’s a closer view of the background so you can see how I’ve done it along with the details on the leaves.

For the sentiment, I die cut some letters from gold metallic foil cardstock and attached to background. I used my computer to print out the other words and die cut them out with a banner die and sponged the edges. I used foam tape to pop up the one over the leaf.

Lastly, I used some gold glitter drops to add a bit of sparkle to it.

Thanks so much for dropping in today! I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today! I hope you’re able to get outside and enjoy your weekend!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Make Your Own Background (wood panel/plank background with inks)

August AJ Page-Good-bye Summer

Hello friends! Here we are at the end of August already! I’ve already been feeling the Autumn vibes, so I thought I’d create with Summer one more time. There is still a few more weeks left of Summer, so let’s enjoy it!

Wanted to share a photo that hubby took a really good close-up shot of a bumble bee enjoying the last bit of summer blooms on one of our flowers in the back yard the other day. He is covered in pollen! I love the bright colors in the flower.

Speaking of bright colors, today starts another monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” AUGUST prompt of “BRIGHT/HAPPY COLORS”:

Bright and happy colors to me are those sunny yellows, citrus and basically a rainbow of bright colors. I tried to reflect this with my page using mainly blended ink colors, but I also used some watercolor and paint too.

FOR THE BACKGROUND: I used a 5.5″ x 8.5″ piece of Bristol Smooth Watercolor cardstock. I covered the background with a light wash of blue watercolor and let it dry. I took a stencil from My Favorite Things (closed) called “Sun Ray” and went over the background with yellow paint applying with a watered-down sponge. Once that was dry, I splattered the entire background with some metallic gold watercolor. I covered the bottom portion of the page with some wood plank background paper. (I like to make my own book to add my finished pages in.)

The “Summer” lettering was die cut with white cardstock and then ink blended with several different bright colors. I stamped out the lettering above it. Both the stamp and dies came from Lawn Fawn.

Here’s a closer view of the drink glass I created using some die sets from Taylored Expressions called Summertime Sips. There was the glass that I lightly ink blended around the edges and then for the separate die for inside the glass, I ink blended a few different colors for that tropical drink look. There are also ice cube dies that I cut from glitter cardstock to put in there. I cut another glass from vellum and then cut the stem of it so that I could attach it to the front of the glass which is where I added all of the items inside to make it look see-though.

The straw and the umbrella were cut in white and then ink blended and put together for the glass. I also took the TE Fresh Squeezed die set to cut more pieces from white cardstock and then I ink blended some green and orange colors over them to arrange around my cup. The green slice on the top of the cup was cut with scissors so that I could add it to the inside of the glass rim. I covered the inside of these citruses with a glitter brush pen.

Lastly, I took a black detail pen to make lines around the edges of the page and also the stitch marks within the lettering and around the sentiment strip at the bottom. This was printed from computer and ink blended with yellow ink.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my page! Have a wonderful weekend!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Hot Summer (Nights and Days)
Creative Artiste – #118 Anything Goes Mixed Media
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – August -No Cards

And speaking of bright and happy, I know a few people have mentioned my new grandson and wondering if I get to see him. My answer to that is every single chance I can get! LOL He’s growing so very fast! He came for a visit for lunch…well grandma fed him his bottle.

I will be getting to see him again VERY soon and I’m so excited! How can you resist that face!?

Thought I’d share a little update to make you smile! 😉

July AJ Page-Always Make Waves

Hello friends! I hope that you’re staying cool and having a great weekend so far! This is another pre-scheduled post from me again as I’m away for now. So glad you’re here!

Today starts another monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” JULY prompt of “ACROSS THE OCEAN”:

At one point I was going through my extremely large stash of card kits and realized how crazy it was that I had SO many mermaid/under the sea type of card kits/stamps, papers, etc. So I didn’t have any problem finding something from my stash for this prompt!

For the Background: I started with my usual size of 8.5″x5.5″ with Bristol Smooth cardstock this time. I wanted to do some ink blending with a large 6″x9″ layered stencil that I got from Trinity Stamps. I’ve used several different ink colors to create the underwater scene with the stencils. I had lots of fun with it. I then used some of the masks in the set and spritzed some water over it for the bubble effects in the “water”. The “light beams” came with the stencil set and I just used white ink for that layer.

I thought since I was using water, that I would watercolor the images from an older mermaid card kit that I had from Brutus Monroe. I die cut those along with the turtle and bubbles. The sentiment came with this set too and I thought it was a wonderful saying, so I white heat embossed it on the page.

I also had an “Under the Sea” die set from My Favorite Things (store closed) that I cut a few pieces from to add to the scene at the bottom. I took a gel pen and markers to add details to some of the ocean floor botanicals/rocks and then a glitter brush pen on the mermaids and glitter glue over the bubbles above the turtle to finish it off.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal Page today! Thanks so much for dropping by and spending some time with me! I’ll be back later next week to see what you’re all up to! See you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Botanicals (Hope seaweed counts!)

H is for HOME

Hello friends! This will be a pre-scheduled post as I’m away for a bit, so this is going to be a very short and sweet post from me.

There is a new challenge today over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog! Our next letter is ‘H‘ and the hostess has chosen “H” is for HOME *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter* I hope you will find some time to play along! Here’s what I’ve created:

I have pulled out an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp called “Home Sweet Home” and used some of the cloud papers that came in the kit along with the stamp set to make my little square on the left.

This is a mini slimline sized easel calendar. It folds flat for mailing and then sets up with a base at the bottom. (I figured a message could go on the back.) I got the Square Calendar Tear-Offs as well as the Landscape Calendar Table Tent Base from Taylored Expressions. The “slash marks” on the home sweet home square also came from the TE Square Tear Off Calendar Stacklets Die Set which is how I was able to cut out the square to fit onto the design too.

Obviously, I have August 2025, but I also have 2026 calendars that I will have to replace for the new year. I really love making these calendars every year to give as gifts and I thought it would be nice for someone moving into a new home as well.

Thanks so much for dropping in today! I hope you will take a look at what the design team has for inspiration and join in the challenge with us!
I’ll have another scheduled post for tomorrow to share my monthly Art Journal Page.

June Art Journal Page-Positive Thoughts and Positive News!

Hello friends and welcome to the weekend! June has seemed to go by so very fast and I don’t know how time seems to keep flying by, but I think keeping busy is the best thing to do to stay in a positive mind set. I also have some positive news at the bottom of this post!

Speaking of positive….it’s our monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month. I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” JUNE prompt of “ABSTRACT FIGURE(S) or SHAPE(S)”:

I didn’t really have a plan in place when starting my page. I happened to remember these fun nesting dies that I had which remind me of a body of water/pond, but I thought they would work great for the “ABSTRACT SHAPE” prompt for this month. I started thinking of a rock or cave with these holes or crevasses where a rainbow light is coming through and a girl is in deep positive thought where butterflies are floating above her.

For the background: I started with a 8.5″x5.5″ watercolor cardstock and the oxide inks in Black Soot, Hickory Smoke and Pumice Stone. I rubbed the ink pads onto a glass surface, sprayed with water and “smooshed” the paper multiple times after drying with a heat tool in a process of about three times. I then stamped the “IMAGINE” definition text all over the background and went around the edges with black ink.

Each die cut shape was cut from a rainbow paper pad that I lined around the edges with a black marker. I black heat embossed the heart and the sentiment above the girl. The girl was cut from a magazine and placed on the largest rainbow shape so that her feet were dangling off. The butterflies were cut from a printed file and attached randomly over the page. Lastly, I covered each butterfly and the center of the heart with a glitter brush pen. You may be able to see some of the shimmer in the photo.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today! Thank you so much for checking out what I’m doing over here! I appreciate your kind thoughts! I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – People
Try It On Tuesday – Add Some Text (not one word/greeting)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Anything Goes
Creative Artiste – #116 Anything Goes Mixed Media
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No cards

Positive news! My first grandson was born this week! He’s the most precious thing I’ve ever seen! I didn’t want to leave, so I hope I can come back very soon to see him again!❤️

This is me having a lovely conversation with him. LOL

Lots of Stamp Joy and Summer School Sessions!

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and looking forward to a great weekend coming up! We are having a heat advisory for the next several days over my way, so I thought it would be a great idea to stay indoors and craft! I also thought this would be a great time to catch up with some posts sharing some things that I’ve worked on the first part of this year that I hadn’t gotten a chance to share with you.

LONG POST – pull up your chair with your favorite beverage and enjoy!

I thought I’d share the Taylored Expressions Virtual Stamp Joy that I did back in March. I actually spent the weekend attending the classes and creating as I followed along. I managed to get all of the projects done the day after the event was over, but failed to post all of what I had made due to the fact that I was busy helping two different people move…and then life just got really busy after that as well! LOL

*I also have added an additional event from Taylored Expressions this last weekend called “Summer School” which concentrated on foiling techniques. Although I’ve done foiling before, I sure enjoyed seeing new products and learning a few new techniques too! (These four cards are at the end of the gallery photos below)*

If you’re on my website, just click on the images below to enlarge the photos and view any details underneath each one. ENJOY!

Dimension Class-ink blending and splattering die cuts

I always love to learn new things with stamping/crafting along with all of the fun new products that come out too! I know I REALLY don’t need to purchase more things, but when cool stuff comes out, it’s really hard to pass it by! I think doing these classes and joining in on different challenges help me to use these fun things up!

So I hope you’ve enjoyed my post sharing all of the things that I’ve been doing! I will have another post sharing more things that I haven’t shared yet too! In the meantime, I’ve also been working on a scrapbook which has been fun and something that I haven’t done in a really long time! A baby can do that to you! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends! I’ll be seeing you soon! Have a great weekend!😊