January 2025 “NEW” Art Journal Page-Smashing Our Stash Continues!

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a great month so far and staying crafty while also trying to keep warm and cozy! Thank you for your kind support with my crafting journey and I’m so happy you’re here however you like to follow along.❤️

Today is the start of another year of art journaling and I’m thrilled that my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) is collaborating with me again this year 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” January prompt of “NEW” (challenge/technique):

As you know, we are forever trying to “smash our stash” and included within that stash are possibly some “new” stash or something that hasn’t been used before. But if that’s not the case, then that’s totally fine too because there always seems to be a new “challenge” to over come or something like a new “technique” that you’ve always wanted to try and using up your stash helps with that too! I’ve done this on my page in several ways…

NEW = art journal book used here. I have a few AJ books that I haven’t used at all, so I pulled this one out which is a 5.5″ x 8.5″ spiral mixed media book. I’ve never worked from a book before and not sure I like it as the pages do curl up on me and you can see that I’ve clipped it along the side to keep it from curling. Going forward, I might make a separate page and then attach it to the book. I’ve been so used to making my own book, so this was a new “challenge” for me to try. If you art journal, how do you like to compile your pages together?

NEW = technique used for background with distress crayons. I have a tin full of those distress crayons and I’ve barely even touched them, so I found a fun technique to try by taking a dotted stencil and applying gesso over the blank page. I used several colors of the distress crayons to rub over the stenciled paint and then blended it together with a baby wipe. It was fun! (I’ve also used a black distress crayon around the edges of the page and went over the words inside the heart with a white distress crayon to mute it a bit.)

NEW = Lunar Paste colors used through a stencil. I bought several colors of these metallic/shinny pastes last year and never broke them open, so I thought this would be a good time to see what they look like and they’re really pretty!

NEW = alphabet die letters used. I got these set of alphabet dies with upper and lower case and haven’t had a chance to use them until this page. I like that it includes both upper and lower because it seems you always have to get them separately.

A closer view of the heart that I die cut. I pulled out some cardstock in coordinating colors to match up with the distress crayons in the background and made strips with stamping words and then placing them together on the heart that I cut off the edges to keep the shape.

I was going for a “happy” rainbow style with all of it, but not sure after looking at it as I think it may be a bit too much/busy. But, I’m just going to go with it and be happy! LOL

I hope you’ve enjoyed my page today or at least have been inspired in some way! Thank you for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – DOTS
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – no cards
Ally’s Angels – #90 Anything Goes
Love to Scrap – #171 Anything Goes

December Art Journal Page-SNOW

**DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY I’M OFFERING IN THIS POST – OR SCROLL BELOW THIS POST TO SEE!**

Hello crafty friends! I hope that you all had a happy Christmas time with your loved ones and friends! 2025 is quickly approaching us and I know there will be lots of changes coming to look forward to! Although I’m not feeling 100%, so I think I’m going to rest for the remainder of what’s left of the year🤒.

Today is the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! 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” December prompt of “FOUND OBJECT(S)” (something you found or discovered): (I’ve also combined 2 other past prompts with this one that I’ve missed out on earlier in the year!)

SNOW SNOW SNOW! I know people that hate it and people that love it! Whatever YOUR favorite place to be with it…or not…mine is being inside the warmth and watching it from the window! I don’t mind shoveling if I need to help my husband, but I enjoy watching it peacefully from the window.

The prompt for THIS month (December) is “Found object(s)” and I found some VERY pretty blue ribbon on a present this year and decided to keep it…and I have plenty left for another project! I used it above the die cut window. (This page is my normal 5.5″ x 8.5″ with pre-punched holes at the top…I would have a book finished, but I wasn’t feeling well enough to get one done, so I’ll have to do it later.)

And for the other prompts I’ve missed this year: August I was away and didn’t get to complete that one and the prompt for that month was “Vintage/Old“. The background wallpaper area looks vintage to me and it came from a VERY old pack of paper that I’ve had along with the letters on the side of the window. I also missed November and the prompt for that month was “Food“. I love me a good cup of cocoa in the winter and I thought I would make myself some Linzer cookies to add with it in the shape of snowflakes with frosting on them! I even took a bite out of the one in front of the cup!

Since I’m not feeling well, I’m going to stop typing and get some sleep now. Please let me know if you have any questions about the page as I’d be happy to answer!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop in! I really appreciate it and will try to reciprocate when I feel better. Happy New Year friends and I’ll see you in 2025!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – SNOW

Merry Christmas Makes PLUS GIVE AWAY!!!!

Hello friends! Just wanted to pop in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to share some final Christmas creations that I’ve made basically within the last few weeks! Some of these are cards that I’ve sent friends and family and some are recent makes for Craft Roulette challenges.

Scroll below this post to see the give away!

First up are the last few weeks of the Craft Roulette challenges:

(I got out my stretchy pants to play along!)😉

(These are money holders for Christmas with recycled wrapping paper)

(This is a diagonal joy fold card design)

(Tri-Panel Card for me was 3 layer panels on the front! LOL)

(Always stepping on those tiny gems on my floor!)

Hopefully the next several cards have been received by everyone they were sent to, but if not, maybe the surprise will be which one you will get! I don’t like making several at one time, so I’ve split up the design in sessions using the Taylored Expressions Make It Merry Stamp Set along with the Happy Half Sheets: (I’ve made my own “map” with the images)

Lastly, I’ve made several of these photo frame cards using the Lisa Horton Framed Poinsettia Stencils/Die/Embossing Folder: (Using a photo recently taken for our 25th wedding anniversary)

Hope you’ve enjoyed all of my Christmas projects this year and a very special thank you for being apart of the crafting journey with me! I’m so thankful for the friends I’ve met along the way!

ALERT!! GIVEAWAY!!

Since this is the season of giving, I would like to gift someone that would like to receive this set that I have collected myself (over the entire year as an extra) to give away to someone:

Vicki-December2024-giveaway Vicki-December2024-giveawayback

If you’re NOT familiar with Taylored Expressions, this is a collection of the “freebie” rubber stamps that a person receives when placing an order. Each month the stamp image changes to something else. I have not only collected a set for myself, but I’ve also collected another entire set (12 rubber stamps) to give to someone else that would like one! I have included the sturdy laminated Collection card, in addition, a sturdy plastic sleeve in which to store it all in. Plus, I’ve also included a set of 2025 tear-off calendars in a package of ten to go with it!

You can purchase these in the store here under the Pretty Postage Collection, but I’m giving them all away in one set for the entire year as I’ve collected them. I did NOT include the Pretty Postage die set that cuts out the images, but you can purchase your own by clicking on the link.

If you are interested in this give away from me (no affiliation with any company), please just leave me a comment below to tell me that you’re interested in the give away. THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO DO, BUT YOU HAVE TO TELL ME IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN GIVE AWAY!
You will need to leave your comment below by January 3rd, 2025 to enter. I will announce here on my blog who won by January 5th, 2025. (The winner will need to be in contact for mailing out prize.)
P.S. If you have been collecting and looking for one you’re missing, let me know which month and I’ll see if I have it as I have several months that are extras! (I know that I do NOT have any August left, though.)

Just wanted to send out a little Christmas cheer to a crafty friend! It doesn’t matter where you live, I will be happy to mail it out…so please don’t let that stop you! It’s just a special gift from one crafter to another to enjoy!

Thank you for making my crafting journey a special one and for joining me here to share inspiration with one another! Looking forward to more in the coming year!

Wishing you and yours a VERY Merry Christmas with lots of joy and love!

(I will be back after Christmas (Saturday) to share an art journal page with you!)

Reveal of Inky Escape! (Craft Retreat)

Hello friends! November has come with the pretty leaves on the trees and the coolness in the winds. I always turn to comforting “things” this time of the year and it always gives me a sense of peace before the year comes to an end. A warm fuzzy blanket, socks/slippers, sweaters, etc. is what I usually turn to. What is your comfort “thing”?

I promised to share with you the fun things we did over at the “Inky Escape” event that I recently attended and it was wonderful to see all of my crafty friends again for laughs and fun together. I think I miss them already!

I lifted this fun photo from the Inky Stamper FB page as I don’t have any photos other than seeing what others took. There were a total of 18 of us this time:

Everyone received a “swag bag”…but the case this time was a Christmas stocking full of fun goodies and one of them was that everyone received cute fluffy socks. I’m not exactly sure which one is me in that photo, but I did have a polar bear sock! LOL We each placed one foot in the circle and Chelsea took the photo.

And speaking of the “swag bag”/Christmas stocking…here’s what we each received:

When I got to the event, there was this black stocking on my table with the cute tag attached to it with my name. Each person received a personalized tag on the swag bag, plus the “skull” dies that were used to create the tag which was inside the stocking! There are my polar bear fuzzy socks (I’ve already washed them up by hand so the colors wouldn’t bleed in the wash…and they’re so warm and fuzzy!) I also received the cute “Christmas bulb” drink holder with a candy cane straw and a little ghost stopper for the top! We used these containers to hold the “Jingle Juice” that we drank at some point! And then I received a light up Christmas bulb necklace that has different settings when you push the button the back. The theme for this event was called “Merry Spookmas” which you can see the greeting for that on my personalized tag. So fun!

And speaking of fun…here are all of the Make-n-Takes that we created during the event. We sat and made 4 projects and then two of those projects were “bonus” makes using some other special items. (There is a “story” about one of them, but you can check out each project up close in the gallery below.)

*If you are on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge and scroll downward to see more information about each photo while it’s enlarged.*

Camel stamp set used. Images were stamped on colored cardstock and cut out.

The first four make-n-takes were made using the brand new Inky Stamper release that came out during this event! You should go check them out now on the website! (They’re all shown on the home page under “Featured Products”.) My favorite is that darling “Gifter” stamp set! I’m sure you’ll be seeing something from that set soon from me! *wink*

And since I was there to “crop” (as they say), I brought some things to work on that I really wanted to get done. So I decided to pull out some more Inky Stamper images to color and make a “Sheetload of Cards” using the September Sheetload of Cards Template by Crafty Al. If you’re not familiar with her, check out her You Tube Channel and look for all of her “Sheetload of Cards” videos to see how you can find instructions for each month. #SUYSSep2024 #ShowUsYourSheetLoad

I utilized her template to create the full 12 cards as demonstrated. The dimensions of the finished card design is 3.5″ x 6.25″ which I really liked as it helped to use up the full 6″x6″ size of those paper pads! Also, you don’t have to create envelopes for these as they fit perfectly inside those #6 envelopes (3-5/8″ x 6.5″) that you can find at any office supply area of a store.

As you can see, I used a variety of images that I stamped, colored and cut out for each design. I matched up my design papers to coordinate with the images. All of the images I used are from Inky Stamper. All papers come from a variety of Doodlebug Design papers.

Here’s a closer look at two of the cards I made from the set so that you can see how the card opens up and the greetings on the inside of each card. (Sentiments come from Taylored Expressions.) You can also see the coordinating envelopes next to them with the matching critter stamped in grey ink.

These cards are on the way for a special charity for ill children patients to help lift spirts and I hope each one will!

I know there were so many things going on during the event that I was even surprised that I got all of these finished. They were mostly finished with the exception of the greeting which I added when I got home. I had plenty to do while I was there and also enjoyed all the activities too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my post today as well! I thank you so much for stopping in!

GDT for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Nov Challenge – Autumn Teapot

**THERE WILL BE TWO POSTS FROM ME TODAY. THIS IS THE FIRST POST OF TWO**

Hello friends and happy November! The weather has finally decided to give us a bit of a cool down and it feels more like that Autumn Season right now. We’ve been waiting on some rain as it’s been dry and then the wind blew in some cool with it too! I always like to give Autumn it’s “due justice” as it never seems to have a spotlight as much I think it should.

I’m very excited to share a mixed media project I made for a guest design spot (that I had won a top spot from a previous challenge). I was asked to join this month as a guest designer for the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog!

The theme for these monthly challenges is always “Anything Goes Mixed Media“. So be sure to check out the wonderful inspiration from the team and share your mixed media project over there! I look forward to seeing your inspiring makes!

I’m always excited when I have an “excuse or reason” to get out all of my mixed media things and play around to make something! I thought since it was November, it would be a great time to pull out the Autumn media:

I made this fun center/accent piece for Autumn and pulled out the cool Finnebair rusty metal teapot from my shelf to finally decorate on! It actually looks pretty cool by itself, but I had to add some other details to it that I thought would make it my own.

For the base: The only thing that was missing for me was a “handle” for my teapot and I went through my husbands things and found an old metal coat hook that I had him screw onto the side. I also had some extra pieces laying around from the molds I made with resin, so I attached those along the frame opening with 3D matte gel. I wanted to also add some texture to my teapot and that’s where I added some crackle paste in various areas…all of these things had to dry for quite some time. It didn’t look pretty at that point as those pieces were white. LOL The “hurry up and wait” had begun.

After the long drying time: I started by covering the entire thing with two layers of black gesso so that all of those white areas were completely covered up. I pulled out some acrylic paints in Raw Umber, Burnt Orange and very light touch of Marigold. I started with the darkest color first and did not use a brush to apply the layers. Instead, I used a sponge after each layer was dry. I very lightly and sparingly used the yellow. I even went back in with the Burnt Orange and Raw Umber to get the look I was wanting.

After all of the painting, I used more of the 3D matte gel and wrapped some jute/rope around the top handle.

Going to the right side of the teapot, you can see where I’ve added all of that crackle paste and the painting that I’ve done over it. The only thing missing at this point was the “highlights” to make it look like a found rusty metal teapot. Since it was Autumn themed, I pulled out the Finnebair Vintage Gold Wax and rubbed over the raised areas with my finger. You can see the look it gives over the paste and decorative molds around the frame and even the raised “dots” along the top of the teapot.

Moving over to the left side of the teapot, you can see where I’ve screwed in the metal hook to the side of the teapot. I just incorporated the silver screws with the design by adding paint. I told my husband that I thought it looked cool to turn the coat hook up-side-down as it looked more like a handle.

And now if we take a closer look to the inside of the teapot frame, you will see an Autumn scene in there. The back of the teapot comes out so you can decorate how you’d like. I know it’s a bit hard to see in the photo, but I found some leafy background paper to attach over the metal backing and I also splattered some gold paint over it.

For the bottom of the teapot, I attached some woodland moss mixture with 3D matte gel and also used it to attach the gold splattered gourds, eucalyptus, a wood slice, a cardboard squirrel, sticks and some acorns. I also went around the outside areas to attach some Fall leaves and more acorns. The only thing I didn’t have in my stash were the acorns and sticks. My husband said that he could get them for free…and of course he went to our local park and picked them up! LOL So those are the only “real” things on my teapot.

I had thought about maybe adding some fairy lights inside at the top so the inside would be more visible, but not sure if I would like that or not…what do you think?

And in case you might want to know, the measurement of the teapot are 12″ across (including the added metal coat hook), 8″ tall and about 3.5″ in depth. I currently have it sitting in my cabinet at home.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed media teapot! I would love to see your mixed media project as well if you play along with us this month at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog!

Thanks so much for stopping in! Stay tuned as I will have another post coming up in a couple of hours!

Challenges: (if this project doesn’t fit with your challenge, just delete.)

Ally’s Angels – #87 Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create – October Anything Goes with optional: lots of leaves (Fall/Spring)
Dragonfly Dreams – October Anything but a Card
Krafty Chicks – #740 Anything Goes
Classic Design – #10-2024 Anything Goes with optional twist: Anything but a card
The Creative Crafters – #81 Anything Goes

October Art Journal-A Strange Feeling

Hello friends! **THIS IS A PRE-SCHEDULED POST AS I’M AWAY AT A STAMP RETREAT!!**

The weather is finally starting to cool down now and we’ve finished cleaning the yard to prepare for winter months to follow soon. Halloween will also be here in a few days, so I thought it would be fun to make my page today with that in mind!

Today is the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! 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 “ODD/Oddities” (anything unusual or strange):

I don’t know if this is considered odd to anyone else, but I certainly do! This weird scientist looking guy has a strange facial expression as he’s holding up a head in the bottle! I’ve put so many details in this page that I thought you’d need to see close-up photos below.

For my background: Starting with a 5.5″ x 8.5″ heavy watercolor paper with pre-punched holes at the top for binding later, I sprayed the background with mica sprays in Hocus Pocus, Jack-O-Lantern and Flickering Candle. I sprayed some extra water over top to get them to blend together as they seem very concentrated and they didn’t move much over the watercolor paper after spraying a few times. I took a leaves stencil inked over places with light brown ink. I then ink blended the edges with black ink and stamped some lettering stamped randomly. Lastly, I splattered with black and gold watercolor.

Upon a closer look at the bottom: I needed an area for shelves to hold the potion bottles, so I took some Tim Holtz Halloween collage paper and attached it with matte medium. It crinkled a bit, but I sort of liked that look. I then found some decorative strips in my stash and added those for the “shelves”. The crow and “curious” ephemera was also found with all of my Tim Holtz Halloween stash….along with the paper doll “guy”. I cut off a head from one of them to place inside the jar. I added some thin metal wire around the jar and cut a slit in the guy’s hand to make it look like he’s holding it. I also added a bit of color to the guy’s flower and bow tie on his jacket outfit with markers. BEFORE popping up the paper doll guy to the page, I ripped some black cardstock for the ground underneath him and tucked in the bones.

For the Bottles: I used a Taylored Expressions “If You Dare” Stamp & Stencil set to make all of the bottles. I also used the TE “If You Dare Halloween Labels” to foil and cut out to place over each jar. To die cut some extra “strange things” to put inside a few of the jars and the bones at the bottom, I die cut pieces from the TE “Little Bits Cauldron Confetti” dies. (The die cut bats from this were also used on the top of the page.) For more finishing details, I doodled in some of the jars and then added some colored glitter/sparkle and pearl drops for the inside contents. If you look closely at the crow’s eye, you can see I’ve added a tiny dot of yellow sparkle. Some of the details were popped up and some were just glued down.

A closer look at the top: Mostly die cut pieces were used at the top and the first I put down was the spider web and spider from Whimsy Stamps called Spiders and Webs…they’re huge! (this store is so good at spooky things!) I drew a line with a black marker from the spider to the web. For the window, I die cut it out from a really old Mama Elephant die I’ve had in my stash…not sure if it’s still available. BEFORE I placed the window down, I die cut the moon from the Lawn Fawn Shadow Box Halloween Add-On die set. I blended in some yellow and gray and covered it with a glitter sparkle pen. I added the die cut bats and placed the window over top.

Lastly, I took some Tim Holtz Halloween clippings word strips and added to the page. I took a black marker and went around the strips above the paper doll “guy”.

I know there are people that are not Halloween fans or care for the spooky things, but I really enjoy the weirdness of it all and have fun making things with it! In the words of Lydia from Beetlejuice: “I myself am strange and unusual“.

Winona Ryder in a hat as Lydia in Beetlejuice

I do hope you’ve enjoyed my page today and I really appreciate you stopping by! I will be back later with things we’re doing at the retreat! See you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Autumn Colors & Inspiration (Purple, orange, yellow and black!)

September Art Journal-Fall Texture

YAY! I’m back…but a tad bit late for my monthly AJ post! (So sorry about that Carol!!) I’m trying to get back into crafting again as it feels like I’ve been away from it for a long time! It was a fun, crazy, beautiful time away and there a few photos below this post if you care to see….

BUT FIRST, TODAY (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER)….is the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! 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 “TEXTURE” (anything to create texture):

Texture is something that I really enjoy using, but sometimes when you’re making cards, you don’t always want that texture or bulk adding to your design because you want to be able to slide it into an envelope to mail out. Doing an art journal page with lots of texture and bulk is something I can do because it’s my own piece of art to keep and it’s fun to play with lots of media from my stash to create it!

For the background: I started with my usual 5.5″ x 8.5″ heavy weight watercolor panel with pre-punched holes at the top using my Bind-It-All machine. Starting with some media paste and my “go to” dotted stencil, this was a quick way to add texture to the background. I then pulled out some watercolor in blue tones and covered over the background with it and sprinkled some sea salt over it, let it dry completely and then brushed it off. This leaves some cool effects to the watercolor and it creates some texture as well!

Moving down the page, I have die cut lots of pumpkins and leaves! These are all die cut sets from Taylored Expressions that I’ve had in my stash for a few years now. All the pumpkins were cut from orange cardstock. For the largest pumpkin, I’ve used my Copic markers to give it some dimension/texture. The other pumpkins had another piece that I cut from a darker orange cardstock. The stems all cut from green cardstock. I decided to splatter some brown, gold and white paints all over them for even more texture. Before attaching the pumpkins, I used some printed tissue paper that was sprayed with color and scrunched up and attached to the bottom of the page with media paste. Lots of texture going on at the bottom here!

For the leaves, I die cut them out from kraft cardstock and ink blended over them in various fall colors. You will notice around the edges of the leaves as well as the textured paste background on the page, that I’ve used some gold wax and rubbed around the edges and over the texture. I then arranged all of the leaves and pumpkins at the bottom of the page with some popped up with foam tape. I’ve also taken some green wire and curled it to use for a couple of the pumpkins that were attached to the back of them.

Lastly, I’ve added the sentiments that were die cut, gold foiled and attached at the top along with the thin strip of orange cardstock. The “FALL” letters were popped up with foam tape as well as a portion of the leaf on the side of it.

Really hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today! It was fun getting messy and playing around with crafting again! I really missed doing it!

Here are just a couple of photos to share on our time away. We started by flying to Seattle as we’ve never been and visited the Space Needle. We took a bus to Canada where we boarded a Cruise ship that took us into Alaska to see the glaciers! We sailed for a week, but went further up to Denali Park in Alaska where we stayed an additional week and made our way back home. This was certainly a once in a lifetime experience that we’ll never forget! The photos look nowhere close to how gorgeous it was to see in person.

While we were traveling on our way back home, it seems that one of our pieces of luggage decided to take a trip to Mexico! So once we figured all that out, got our luggage back and tons of laundry, cleaning, groceries to get, done….I had an appointment to get an impacted tooth removed the other day! Been feeling a little overwhelmed, but starting to get better!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND SUPPORT, COMMENTS AND COMING TO VISIT ME HERE! I’VE MISSED CRAFTING AND CATCHING UP WITH ALL OF YOU! HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND AND SEE YOU SOON!!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Anything Goes

Bon Voyage! Blog Break

Hello friends! I have a project to share which is a great send off post for an announcement of a blog break I’ll be taking for the next month🛳️🛫.

I wanted to share a project I made by request of my husband which was to recycle a plain notebook for traveling, so I pulled out some Doodlebug items and had some fun:

This is the front cover of the notebook which I covered with some Doodlebug papers, but I thought it would look way to busy, so I decided to tone down the papers by adding a wash of white paint over it. I think it makes the stamped images stand out better.

I’ve used a wave border die to cut some blue cardstock so that the boat could be in the “water” and I’ve added the sentiment underneath it. I stamped and colored the boat and airplane images and die cut them out with the coordinating dies. I also die cut a few clouds to add to the scene.

When I attached the painted pattern papers to the notebook, I decided to add an additional strip along the side of the wire spiral before adding the waves. I then took a black marker to create stitch marks with.

On the inside cover of the notebook, I took some more of those Doodlebug papers and attached them to the inside. I’ve made a pocket using the same papers that I’ve used on the front cover and you can see how bright and colorful they are which is why I decided to paint over them.

I added one of the cards from the paper pack to the front of the pocket and then I put a few pieces of washi tape with the airplane postage and travel stamps on the notebook paper.

And this is the inside back cover which was done similar to the inside front cover.

If you look inside the pocket of this, you can see that I’ve also made a bookmark for him that I’ve laminated. He can use it for his notebook or for another book he may be reading.

And here is the back of the notebook. This is where I’ve added a black elastic closure for the book BEFORE attaching any papers to it. The strips from the paper pack help to give it a little design and I’ve also included another shallow pocket.

He seems very pleased with it and has already put it to good use including the pockets and bookmark! He’s already wrote in it too! I tried to be sneaky and write a secret message on one of the random pages within the book, but he found it too early! I don’t get much past him!

I have lots of fun papers and ephemera left over from this cute Doodlebug paper pad, so I will probably be using it for a special scrapbook at some point…hopefully more on that later.

I would like to also let you know that I will be MIA for a while as we will be away on a much needed vacation time!

Thank you so kindly for stopping in and enjoy the rest of your summer!

Challenges:

Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes #85
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes #79

Lots of Inky Stamping to Catch Up On!

Hello friends! I hope that you’re enjoying your August so far! Recently, we’ve been experiencing much cooler temperatures than we normally have this time of year, so it’s been great to go out for a few walks.

I’m ALMOST caught up with things that I haven’t posted, with the exception of a few birthday cards that I’ll share later. For today, I’d like to share some projects that I’ve made at an event I attended back in April along with a class from Inky Stamper.

But first, here are a few projects I’ve made for their recent challenges:

This is a tag I’ve made for the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group July challenge. The challenge was to make a tag and I thought I’d try out a fun idea of making a pocket for my tag that held another tag inside so that you could put a message and a gift card.

I’ve used some Limeade Dots/Stripe 12×12 Doodlebug paper to cut it out with and used a border die to help with the pocket decoration. I cut another tag to place inside the pocket for a special message and to include a gift card. At the top of the inside tag, I’ve made little “charms” with images from the Inky Stamper Margarita stamp set. I’ve also stamped the background of the inside tag. I don’t usually color with pencils, but this time I decided to pull them out.

To get the sentiment to fit around the pocket border, I had to curve the stamp a bit to make it work with the tag.

Here’s another project I’ve made using Inky Stamper products for both the August Inky Stamper Inkspirations FB Group as well as the Craft Roulette episode #226. (If you play along with Craft Roulette, Inky Stamper is a sponsor for this month.)

So the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group challenge for August was to use a white pencil. This happens to be a favorite to use for Chelsea with her images and it does make for a nice quick highlight. So the images were just stamped on colored cardstock and I used the white pencil to highlight them with.

I decided to combine this with last week’s Craft Roulette Episode #226 with the parameters of – Project: “See-through” (I made a see-through shaker card) Colors: “Jungle” (I used greens and browns for my jungle) Element: “Teacher(s)” (The sentiment says it all!) Random: “Tangle” (There are a tangle of leaves inside shaker element.)

For all of the images, I’ve used the Inky Stamper Monkey stamp set. The inside of the shaker was stenciled with a Tropical Leaves stencil from Taylored Expressions with green inks. The circle was cut out with a retired MFT die. I found some fun monkey shaker elements to put inside.

Back in April there was an Inky Stamper Inky Escape event that I attended and here are some projects that I made from the Make-n-Takes that were provided as well as some of the projects that I was working on using the new release that came out during the event:

(If you are on my website, click each photo to enlarge it and read the captions)

The tag was made my Chelsea that was attached to my “swag bag” and the box was a make-n-take project. There was a moon pie included with project, but when I came home, I added 4 Ghirardelli chocolate squares to show how many fit inside.

There is actually another Inky Escape coming up in October that I’m attending and I’m sure it will be fun with Halloween and Christmas theme combined!

While I was there, I worked on some more of my own projects using some of the new sets:

I decided to take and use one 6×6 paper pack from my stash and it seemed to go really well with the outer space theme and I love the purple colors from this set. I’ve used the following Inky Stamper stamps sets: Astronaut, Big Words, & Alien.

Click on the photos below to see a close up look at each card:

Before the Inky Escape Event, there was also an on-line class from Inky Stamper that I took part in and that’s because I thought the projects were super cute! Here are the projects that were completed for this class:

These were both created with the Inky Stamper Hedgehog stamp set. The Journal Book , the Doodlebug DIY Snow globe and Doodlebug dimensional stickers/shaker balls were all provided with the class. I decided to add a few extra elements with mine. The tiny hedgehog on top of the snow globe was included in our box, but not apart of the projects…but I thought it would be fun to add it!

Speaking of Doodlebug, while I was at the Inky Escape Event, Chelsea had a few things on sale and I snagged a kit and special ordered the Doodlebug Frame with it. So when I got back home and the frame came in, I wanted to do my project right away:

I have this displayed in my stamp room and I love the rainbow of colors in it with the different crafty tools in smile faces! The size is 8in. x 8in. with a glass on the front. Although it’s not really that visible in the photo, it is actually quite dimensional.

I think it goes well with the black frame that matches my black frame with the crafty squares swap group I was in. (You can see that post here.)

Whew!😳 I’ve been really busy this year, but I don’t think you would’ve known this without my posting about it! I’m glad that I’ve gotten caught up with things that I’ve done and hopefully I won’t be doing posts like this in the future! It just seems like so much all at once!

Anyway, there we go and now I need to finish and send out a few birthday cards coming up, so I will catch up with that later as well! For now, thanks so much for stopping in and keeping tracks of my sporadic postings! I will be back to share a DT post for a challenge coming!

Have a happy crafty day my friends!

July Art Journal Page-Watercolor Winds

Hello friends and happy weekend! It’s the start of the Olympics and it’s something that I enjoy catching up on a few events here and there when I can as it’s very inspiring to see these dedicated athletes perform. I do hope you’re enjoying your weekend however you’re spending it.

It’s time for the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! 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 “WATER” (actual water or the look of it):

Do you enjoy watercolor? Do you enjoy the water? I happen to really like both! I think I am more apt to dabble in the watercolor medium than I am to actually be IN the water though!😆 I decided to use both for my page today. It would be a dream of mine if I could ever experience sailing…maybe one day!

Background: I started with an 8.5″ x 5.5″ pre-punched holes on a Canson coldpress watercolor panel and painted the background with my Kuretake Gansi Tambi watercolors and a brush. I started with the yellow and worked my way out to the darker color. I wanted a warm sun with a contrast of darker sky/clouds over to the left. I stamped the birds to the right corner.

For the clouds, sails and water, I pulled out some fabric and die cut the pieces out with the exception of the boat. I stamped the boat with Staz On ink over the fabric and hand cut just the sails out with scissors for the fabric. The boat was stamped on cardstock, colored with watercolor and cut out. I used fabric glue to attach all of the fabric pieces.

I popped up the bottom layer of the dotted fabric water waves with foam tape and used a micron pen to make the stitch marks. I also went around the edge of the page making stitch marks. The sail boat was tucked in between the waves and I added a button with thread on the bottom of the boat.

The clouds were attached on the background with the fabric glue and then I stenciled with white ink over top of that and added a few marks with a white gel pen on the clouds.

Lastly, I printed out the quote and die cut it out with a stitched banner die. It says:

“Withstand the storm, and when the wind doesn’t blow you away, adjust your sails.”

I sponged around the edges of the banner with blue ink and attached it to the page.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today! Thank you for taking the time to stop in and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Challenges: