Tag: Taylored Expressions

February AJ Collab-You Are Enough

Hello friends!  I’m back again today to share some more inspiration with my Art Journaling!

Today starts another 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” February prompt of “MUSIC” (of course!): 

Really had fun with this page as it’s got that bright and cheerful background which is a great reminder to yourself especially when the world looks black and white.

I was able to pull out several stash items like the DecoArt Fluid Acrylic Paints, the stamp sets and dies, some of which, I’ve had for a long time and some never used!

For the background:  I started with a canvas cardstock 140# measuring 8.5″x5.5″ and attached a music sheet of the same size over it. (I have tons of sheet music ephemera!)  I then used the DecoArt Fluid Acrylic Paints to go over it in a horizontal bright rainbow.  Once dry, I splattered white paint over it.  I also went around the edges with a black paint marker.

The flowers at the bottom came from the Taylored Expressions Botanical Beauty Background (retired), that I stamped in black and colored with cool grey markers.  I liked that it covered the entire width of my panel.  I used a coordinating die to cut it with and attached to the bottom.  I layered a black strip at the very bottom…because I thought it needed it.  

Moving to the top of the page, I used a Lawn Fawn Little Heart Strings border die cut out with some shimmer vellum.  (I also used the same vellum for the butterfly wings.)  I attached this to the top of the page with double sided adhesive strip.  I glued down the tiny hearts. This is the first time I’ve used this die because I had to cut it apart!  The butterfly dies came from a very old My Favorite Things die set that is no longer available…not sure of the name even.  The sentiment at the top over the heart string border came from the Taylored Expressions “You Are” that was white heat embossed over black cardstock and cut out with the coordinating die.  I attached it over the border.

Lastly, I used my Cricut Machine to cut out some single music notes in black glossy cardstock and I attached those to the center of the die cut butterflies.  I used some black Stickles glitter and put “dots” on the heart strings border, the butterflies and the center of the flowers.

Here’s a song that inspired me for this page:  

and if you need to hear this today,  just know that YOU ARE ENOUGH too

Thank you so much for stopping by today and sharing your kind comments and support!  I read them all and appreciate it!  Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – MUSIC
  2. Moving Along with the Times – – Things with Wings
  3. A Cut Above – Anything Goes + die cuts
  4. The Neglected Stuff – challenge (I’ve used musical sheet ephemera, paints, butterfly dies)
  5. Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No cards
  6. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  7. We Love to Create – Anything Goes Mixed Media

For Someone You Love at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  I hope that you had a great Valentine’s Day yesterday however you chose to celebrate it!  We chose to stay indoors where it’s warm and watch a movie!  

And speaking of love, this brings us to the February challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and for this month, our hostess is asking for a “Love Card (for anyone you love)” .  Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the design team has created for you.  Here’s my project for this challenge:

Aren’t these heart sweaters adorable?!  I had fun making a couple of cards to send to my kids (whom I love) for Valentine’s Day.  I was actually able to create two similar cards using a stencil set that allows you to make 4 sweaters at one time.

I love the Taylored Expressions Sweater Weather Stencil Set that you can ink blend up to four different sweaters at once.  This had previous come out for Christmas, but in December, they came out with a cute Valentine line to go with this stencil.  So I gold foiled a panel from the TE Foil It-Valentine Sweater Weather pack and then to decorate the sweaters, I used the TE Dinky Decorations Valentine die set.   I wanted more hearts, so I die cut a few extra to place around the background.

Speaking of the background, I used the TE Lots of Love 3D embossing folder and then sponged a bit of white over the hearts so they stood out a bit more.  I also die cut the A2 Thin Frame die for a gold mirror frame.  The sentiment came from the TE Love & Hugs stamp set. 

And here’s a closer look at the other card I made.  I know I could’ve used just one sweater for each card, but I thought these sweaters were too cute, so I decided to use all of them!  I’m thinking one of my sons would probably wear a sweater like one of these and the other would think it’s ridiculous! LOL  Regardless, at least they each know that they are loved by me!

I also had these fun TE Snarky Valentine Insiders panels that I gold foiled.  I have to share some snark with those I love too! LOL  (Click on the photos above to enlarge them if you’re on my website.)

 

I thought I’d share another card I had made for someone I love that was given to my husband for Valentine’s Day yesterday.  (Sometimes, I have to wait until he gets it before I share!):

This pup and his boing heart hat cracks me up!  Look at that face!  I actually made this last month during a Craft Roulette challenge.  I decided that I liked it so much that I put a Valentine greeting on it for my husband to give him on Valentine’s Day.

I used the Taylored Expressions Puppy Love (retired) stamp set and colored in this cute pup with Copic markers and die cut him out.  I stamped the TE Gingham Check BG Stamp in black ink over red cardstock.  I splattered some white Copic Opaque over top.

For the lace, I white heat embossed the border stamp from the TE Flip the Lace stamp/die (retired) over the Toffee cardstock and placed beneath the check background piece.  I added a black strip between the two and then popped the dog on it.  I stamped the “Seriously” from the pup stamp set and the Valentine greeting from the lace stamp set together and fussy cut them out to pop up with foam tape on the card.  I added a few white hearts around the pup.  The entire card is a mini slim from a pre-cut and scored Toffee card base.

  • Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope that you enjoyed these “love” cards or have been inspired to make and send a card to someone you love too!  I look forward to seeing what you share in the gallery this month!  

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Challenges:

  1. Critter Crazy – Anything Goes With a Featured Creature (Bottom card only)
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + Animal (Bottom card only)
  3. Pearly Sparkles – Love is in the Air
  4. Crafts Galore Encore – #132 Anything Goes
  5. Crafty Calendar – Hearts
  6. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes with optional: Lots of Love
  7. Crazy is Our Fame-Stencils Are Our Game – Pinks &/or Reds + stencil (sweater cards)
  8. Make My Monday – #245 Love (bottom pup card)
  9. Crafty Gals Corner – #264 Fill in the Blank:  “Pink________” (sweaters)

The January Blues at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  For those of us that experience the cold weather season for January, I hope you’re finding ways to keep warm.  I have been wrapping myself in blankets with fluffy slippers around the house…and yes, I have the heat up too! LOL  I think I seem to feel the cold more as I get older in age!  This week will be really cold for us here. So I suppose that’s why they say “January Blues”?🥶

Anyway, that brings me to the January challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and for this month, our hostess is asking for “January Blues” (monochromatic blue) on your project.  Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the design team has created for you.  Here’s my project for this challenge:

Usually, when I think of blues, especially in January, I tend to think of snowflakes.  I wanted to do something a bit different and decided to pull out my blue tone alcohol inks and make a background.  It was really fun to play around with, and of course, you make a panel and make more than one to save for other cards! Blue makes for such a great masculine card too.

I found some cardstock to match up with the background and die cut the alcohol panel with a stitched rectangle die, layered it over a piece of white to attach to an A2 sized top folding blue card base.  (I’m glad that I’m using some older items from my stash as I think this is old Stampin’ Up! paper that needs to be used!  I THINK it’s Pacific Point?)

I pulled out a leaf die from Taylored Expressions called Subtle Sprigs and cut one in white to place over top the alcohol background.  I also used the TE On Occasion stamp set by white heat embossing over blue cardstock, cutting it out with the die and placing it over the background with the sprig.

It’s a very simple card, but I wanted the alcohol background to take the stage on this one.

I hope you’ve been inspired today to play along with us this month for the challenge at Sparkles Monthly! (P.S.  This will also work with the Monochrome challenge at Mix It Up this month too!) Thanks so much for stopping in today with your kind support!  I really appreciate it!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Addicted to CAS – #274 Blue
  2. Crafty Catz – #685 Anything Goes with optional: CAS
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2502 Anything Goes
  4. Try it On Tuesday – Feeling Blue
  5. C.R.A.F.T. – #746 Anything Goes 
  6. The Male Room – #194 Clean & Simple

Happy New Year! Still Mixing It Up in Monochromatic!

**DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY I’M OFFERING IN THIS POST –  THERE’S STILL A FEW DAYS LEFT TO ENTER!**

Hello friends and welcome to the New Year of 2025!  Hope that you’ve had a wonderful and healthy Holiday Season and ready to start the crafty year!  I look back and can’t believe that I’ve been blogging since 2006…next year will be 20 years of blogging!  Holy cow!  Should I have some sort of celebration?

Today not only starts a brand new year, but it’s also the start of a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog.  ( NOTE: The challenge blog has recently been taken over by Tina, but it’s running the same way that Leslie had been running it…so hope you can join along as you always have or if you haven’t yet, sure hope to see your creations over there!)  The challenge will run for 6 weeks so there is plenty of time to enter.  The theme given this time around is: Monochromatic (meaning shades of the same color) or you can do the ‘Anything Goes” too.  Here’s the card that I came up with for the challenge using the theme:

Of course I chose shades of purple for my design in the Taylored Expressions colors:  Eggplant, Dried Fig and Macaron.  I also used the floating technique with the circle of acetate and the different strips attached and popped up with foam tape strips.  Very easy and fun to do!

The “thanks” sentiment and strips were white heat embossed over the Eggplant color and cut out with the coordinating dies.  The little hearts were also apart of the die cut.  I then added some purple color rhinestones to finish it off.

I’ve used a VERY old embossing folder by Cuttlebug…do you remember that thing?  I attached the embossed piece to a side folding A2 Eggplant card base and added a white panel with a sentiment on the inside.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first card of the New Year or have been inspired to create a monochromatic card as well to enter in the challenge with us!  

Thanks so much for stopping in today and I look forward to seeing all of your crafty inspiration throughout the year!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Inspirations – Something Old/Something New (I’ve used a VERY old embossing folder!)
  2. Moving Along With the Times – Thank You
  3. Love to Craft – #84 Anything Goes
  4. Crafts Galore Encore – #131 Anything Goes
  5. Pearly Sparkles – Something Old, Something New (Old embossing folder and new purple glitter drops!)
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – #587 Anything Goes Using Paper
  7. Paper Funday – #72 Anything Goes with optional: Monochrome

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-giveawayVicki-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!)

Christmas Florals for Sparkles Monthly Challenge!

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a great month so far and looking forward to a great weekend ahead!  I know it’s starting to get “crunch time” with the Holidays quickly approaching us in a few weeks, so it’s time to get those Holiday cards finished up and sent out!  

Today starts the November challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and for this month, our hostess is asking to see Christmas Florals on your project.  Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the team has created for you.  Here’s my project for this challenge:

When I saw this challenge, I knew what I wanted to pull out to play with right away!  I’ve pulled out the beautiful Taylored Expressions Scattered Holiday Blooms Bundle. I also wanted to use the Scattered Holiday Blooms Foil Panels which I foiled in gold.

After I foiled the panel, I used the coordinating layered stencils to go over it.  I was almost thinking that I might not want to cut the panel out after blending it because I liked it so much, but I wanted to try out the die that cuts each of the blooms out.  I love that the center of the large poinsettias has an extra cut in the center to lift up the edges too.  I ended up layering two of the poinsettias together for each one for even more dimension.  I layered some of the leaves around them and they were popped up over the card with foam tape again.

For the background of the card, I used the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder over a toffee cardstock.  I took some gold ribbon and wrapped it around the two corners with the top one in a bow.  I then attached this over a white top folding A2 card base.  I used my corner chomper to round the corners of the base and toffee card panel.

Lastly, I die cut the “JOY” letters in white and gold mirror cardstock and attached them by slightly off-setting them before placing on the card front.  I added the holly to the “O” and a few more of the tiny blooms that were cut out from the blended panel to finish off the card.

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today or have been inspired to get those holiday makes going by joining in the challenge with us this month!  I look forward to seeing what you create!  Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Friday – #372 Christmas
  2. Crafty Catz – #682 Anything Goes with optional: ribbon/twine
  3. Pammies’ Inky Pinkies – PIP2445 Anything Goes
  4. Krafty Chicks – #742 Christmas
  5. Just Us Girls – #753 Word Week:  JOY
  6. Crafts Galore Encore – #129 Anything Goes
  7. Love to Craft – #83 Anything Goes
  8. Merry Little Christmas – #59 Anything Goes Christmas
  9. Let’s Craft & Create – Anything Goes with optional: use a bow

Mix it Up With Paper Piecing!

**THIS IS POST TWO OF TWO FOR TODAY!  SCROLL BELOW TO SEE MY POST FOR THE GDT CREATIVE ARTISTE.  THANK YOU!**

Hello friends and a happy November!  I think that the last two months completely flew by and here we are getting closer to the end of the year…what?!  I hope that you look forward to happy times ahead and lots of crafting fun too!  I’m thankful you’re here with me, so let’s get this month started.

Today begins a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and it’s always “Anything Goes with an optional theme“.  The optional theme this time is “Paper Piecing“! (This challenge is open for 6 weeks, so you have plenty of time to enter!)  Here’s what I came up with using this theme:

I absolutely love the look of quilts, but I like to keep my making of quilts done with paper!  So I thought this theme would be great for making a quilt pattern design for Christmas.  I normally paper piece stamped images, but I wanted to do something different this time and pull out more stash items and use them!

Several months ago, I purchased a card kit from Taylored Expressions called “Pieced Patterns” and I loved the concept of cut out squares attached over a “map” to follow along on how/where to place the squares.  It’s really easy to piece different colors/patterns together to make a design.  Some squares were also cut diagonal and I stamped a tone on tone pattern over some of the squares before they were cut out.  Then they were placed over the “map” design and cut out with a square die.  I also cut the stitched scallop frame to go around the square pattern.  I die cut a white snowflake twice to layer in the center of the pattern and added a red gem in the middle of it.

I attached the paper pieced pattern over a white card front that was cut with the Taylored Expressions Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate that was then attached to a top folding A2 white card base.  For the sentiment, I white heat embossed it from the Taylored Expressions Jingle All the Way stamp set and cut it out with the coordinating die.  It was popped up at the bottom with thin foam tape.

I can see this might be fun with several different squares cut out ahead of time to place over the different “map” designs to create multiple design patterns ready for cards!  It’s just a matter of taking the time to cut out all of the squares.

I have decided to create a “bonus” card using the same “paper piecing” technique, but with a stamped image this time…as we all need more Christmas cards, right?!  

For this card, I pulled out an older card kit from my stash (2016) and used the Doodlebug pattern papers that was included with the kit.  The papers are too cute not to use and hoarding them is not a good idea! 

I stamped the tree onto a stitched white rectangle, then stamped the tree, star and banner over some of the pattern paper, carefully cut it out and attached it to the stamped tree and white panel.  Before I attached the stamped pattern pieces, I used my Copics to color in the tree stump and outline around the tree.  I also added some details to the pattern pieces for shading as well.

 The banner was popped up with foam tape and I attached all the layers together over a top folding red A2 card base. All the cardstock/papers were included in the kit. I’ve added some red rhinestones on the tree where the ornaments were to finish it off.

Anyway, hope you’ve enjoyed all of my projects today and I hope you will take some time to check out the challenge blog to see what the other talented designers have made.  I look forward to seeing what you make!  Have a great day!

Challenges:

  1. Inkspirational – #327 Seasonal (Winter/Christmas) 
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2443 Anything Goes
  3. Cardz 4 Galz – #237 Showcase Your Patterned Paper (second card)
  4. Crafty Catz – #681 Anything Goes with optional twist: use dies/punches (top card, but dies used on both of them!)
  5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #240 Anything Goes
  6. Penny’s Paper Crafty – #583 Anything Goes Using Paper

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:

  1. 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

Butterflies at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  Hope that your week has been a good one for you!  Thank you to everyone for stopping by and taking your time to spend with me as I appreciate your kindness.

Today starts the August challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and for this month, our hostess is asking to see a butterfly or butterflies on your projects.  I love butterflies and look forward viewing the gallery on this one.  Be sure to stop by the blog to see what the rest of the team has created for you.  Here’s my project for this challenge:

I like how this one came together!  I’ve used several butterfly items from Taylored Expressions.  I started with the background by taking the Fluttering Friends Layering Stencil and stencil the colors Sour Gummy, Spearmint & Peaches ‘N’ Cream over a white card base.  Once the stenciling was finished, I used the Fluttering Friends 3D embossing folder over it which also impresses the bodies and antenna on them.  I layered this over a top folding A2 Spearmint card base.  (I also cut out a frame with the same colored cardstock using the Frame in Frame 3 Cutting Plate).

For the butterfly focal, I white heat embossed a butterfly from the Beautiful Butterfly Wings stamp set and cut it out along with the layered wings and body from the Beautiful Butterflies die set.  I layered it onto a piece of vellum cut out with the Petite Scallop Circle Stacklets die.  I also white heat embossed the sentiment from the Mini Strips-Fluttering By stamp set over Sour Gummy cardstock cut from the Mini Strips die.   I used foam strips to pop it up and I also added some rhinestones on the butterfly wings.

I hope you like my inspiration for the challenge and that you’ll take some time this month to create something with butterflies too.  

Thank you for stopping in and have a great day!

Challenges:

  1. Cut It Up – #310 ‘Thinking of You’ + use of die cut
  2. The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Wet/Dry Embossing (I did both)
  3. Crafty Gals Corner – #258 Anything Goes optional: Embossing Folder
  4. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Can You Handle the Pressure? – Anything Goes using Embossing Folder optional: wheels
  6. Stencil Fun – Anything Goes using Stencil optional: Summertime
  7. Triple B – Butterflies/Birds/Blooms (I used butterflies)