I had fun just playing with some of the new eP goodies I received on Saturday!  Especially the new stencils from TCW and the Silk Acrylic Glazes.  Oh any paints that I don’t have to worry about which colors will mix and which will become muddy are a must have in my book.  Because as you may know, when I get in the “zone” I don’t think, I just do.

As tends to be my M.O., I had no clear idea in my head, just knew that I wanted to use the new goodies.  So this is the right hand page.  My left hand page ended up like this:

I used the Butterfly Flourish stamp from Sweet N Sassy Stamps  to fill the page.  It was an after thought, after I had already glued the stamped Peasant Doll image to the page.  That butterfly flourish would make an awesome background, don’t you think?

To see lots more pictures, especially with the glazes, head over to the eP blog  HERE.  I also share my major ‘oops’.  It just wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a mistake involved, right? 

Regardless, it was a fun Sunday, playing in the craft room.  Hope I get some art time again this coming weekend! 

Until next time…….

Supplies Used:

Adventurous Life:

Play Always:

Friday, well actually since Wednesday, I had such a bad headache which was getting beyond annoying by Friday.  Went home for lunch, opened an EOB from the insurance company and felt my blood pressure rise.  Apparently my doctor’s office just now billed the insurance company for my January 2012 wellness physical, which the insurance company denied due to a time limit (rightfully so).  Called the doctor’s office and was told I had a $502 balance.  Funny, I haven’t gotten a monthly statement since March and both hubby and I pay our co-pay at the time of service.  And you would think that something would have been mentioned at my last visit which was only a month ago.  Mention health insurance and I turn into a not-so-nice person BUT that is too long of a story to explain.   My bright spot on Friday was coming home and hubby had finished the landscaping around the house.  As I was admiring his handiwork around 7:30pm Friday evening, standing on the porch barefoot and without my glasses, I started to walk to the sidewalk and noticed what I at first thought was a small tree branch behind hubby’s parked car.  Problem was, the tree branch was moving!  I hightailed it around the house, yelling at my husband and the neighbor, “There’s a snake!” By the time we got back to the front of the house, the snake was gone.  And that my friends, bothered me more than seeing the snake in the first place.   Geez, the freakin’ critters around here!!  So as you can see, I needed art therapy!

The first thing I did yesterday morning, was to create a card with a water color panel stamped with Silly Scapes stamp from Hero Arts.  I’ve had it colored for eons.  With coffee in hand, I used some old (very old) My Minds Eye papers and voila, the card was done.  (Why doesn’t it always come together this quickly??????)

The sentiment is from Market Street Stamps, stamped onto watercolor card stock.  I love using watercolor card stock for a card base.  It’s thicker than regular card stock and has texture!  The Silly Scape was colored using a water brush and Neocolor II crayons.

I think it turned out ok.  It calmed me, the clean lines – weird, I know.  I think because of all the previous failed attempts to create a card and then just literally slapping it together…. just made me happy .  Talking about failed attempts, let me share a  failed page  in progress:

This had started out so good, but this is definitely not what I had envisioned.  Will be interesting to see how I re-work it.  Anyway,  I love to see pictures and read blog posts of projects that were re-worked because they didn’t initially turn out the way intended. 

So yes, my simple little card, which took 10 minutes to come together made me very happy.

It’s the little things, right? 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I’ll be back tomorrow to share one of my other projects created yesterday.  Until then, have a wonderful Monday!

Supplies Used:

First let me tell you about Seth’s Buried Treasure Hunt, which I think is an awesome idea.  Basically it’s to re-post one or more of your favorite projects/posts that have appeared on your blog. It’s a way to find hidden gems that you may have missed.  You can read all about it on Seth’s blog HERE.  

And since the theme over at The Sisterhood of Crafters is to create a masculine project, my buried treasure fits right in.  So first, my buried treasure.  It was one of the first eP challenges from Daisy and upon hearing what we were going to be working with, well, I was shaking in my boots…. cowboy boots!  I stepped outside my “comfort box” and can never thank Daisy enough because I’ve definitely grown and evolved since I started making cards seven years ago. 

You can read the original blog post HERE.   I actually have a lot of projects that I’m proud of but this Cowboy Configuration Box has the most meaning to me, if that makes sense. 

ADDED: At the bottom of the post I've added a couple more of my favorite projects.  Sorry, couldn't keep it to just one, lo.

And like I stated earlier, this is definitely masculine and would make a great gift for a man or boy and therefore fits in perfectly with the new challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters.    Darlene is our host for this round and our sponsor is

One lucky participant will win a $10 gift certificate. 

With Father’s Day this Sunday,  I created a couple of Father’s Day cards.  First up, I figured I couldn’t go wrong with tools.   (Supplies for all three cards is listed below)

The sentiment stamp is from Savy Stamps (no longer open or available) and I used some old Basic Grey ribbon with some very old Hodgepodge Hardware from Stampin’ UP! (what in the world are those things called??????)

On my next card I again used some old Stampin’ Up! embellishments – the large eyelets  (amazing what you find when digging through drawers), paired with Tim Holtz Collage Mini Stash papers and a sentiment from SU!:

And for my last one, which is my favorite I think:

The paper is from Stampin’ Up! (retired) and I once again used the greeting stamp from Savy Stamps.  But you know you could re-create it using the computer.   The old truck is from Stampers Anonymous.

Head over to The Sisterhood of Crafters for all the details and lots more masculine inspiration from the girls.

And don’t forget to check out all the Buried Treasure links at Seth Apter’s blog.  I can’t wait to see what gems are just waiting to be found!   

A couple more of my favorite projects:

My Dina Wakley inspired page.  Love the face and all the texture on the pages.

My Home page spread.

My "Faux Crazed Porcelain Technique" card

eP and Want To Scrap Blog Hop project

I could go on and on, picking my favorites.  Not that I think these projects are spectacular or anything like that, but that I never thought they would turn out as they did.  And because I always doubt myself, so looking at these projects I can tell myself "Not bad, Mick"  

That’s it for me.  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Treasure Hunting!

Supplies for Tool Time:

Supplies for Big Eyelet Card:

Supplies for Old Truck Card:

The old man stamp is from Sunday Intl. which apparently was bought out by Crafters Companion back in 2011.  I included the thumbnail link below, which will take you to Crafters Companion site.  Sadly, though this awesome stamp set is no longer available.  Maybe if enough people request it, they'll bring it back.   The sentiment was generated on my computer.  I print out several "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" sentiments at a time, that way I always have some ready to cut out.  And the inside, which again was type up on the computer and printed onto regular copy paper:

I still crack up reading this….. Sorry about the crappy pictures.  I also finished my angel fairy girl, after messing up on her face not once, not twice but three times.  Wait til you see, ugh!  I was so disgusted with myself, lo.  Other than that, we finally got our 5 tons of rock for some landscaping.  Now the fun begins!  And of course, it's supposed to start heating up.  Hubby is on vacation this week to work on his "honey do" list, we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for stopping by!  Until next time…..

Supplies Used:

I started with a 6×6 Stretched Burlap Canvas which got the stencil treatment using Black Soot Distress Paint and Prima’s Turkish Grunge Stencil by Donna Downey.  Although I wanted the overall color theme to be neutral colors, I decided to add a pop of color with the Mini Poppies stencil, Claudine Hellmuth Love Bird stencil and paint.

While that was drying, I grabbed glassine paper and traced a butterfly using the Layered Butterflies stencil.

Once cut out, I cut the butterfly in half and used it as a guide to cut several tear drop shapes out of book pages, corrugated paper and several scraps (like a screen prints from Hambly which I’ve had for a couple of years).  Once I had several shapes cut out it was just a matter of deciding which way to layer.  At this point I also added a Maya Road Kraft Doily (cut in half).

Once I figured out which way I liked the butterfly, it was time to assemble.   I used gel medium to glue the layers together, scrunching the glassine layer a bit.  And for extra security, I used a couple of strategically placed tiny staples.  Next I randomly swiped paint over the edges of all the layers.  As an after thought, I added some Rock Candy Distress Paint on the top (glassine) layer.

The body was cut from book paper and corrugated paper, making sure to cut the corrugated paper layer slightly larger than the book paper.  This too got paint rubbed randomly across it.

Before assembling the body to the wings, I needed to attach the spoon.  Problem was that I could not find a small spoon at any thrift store.  In the end I used two of my dessert spoons.  The picture below shows a failed attempt of altering (see the bits of red still stuck to the spoon?)

I altered two spoons, one with Viva Décor’s Precious Metals and one with Ranger’s Vintaj Patina Kit.

The spoon on the left was altered with Vintaj Patina – Weathered Wood Kit.  I only used the Verdigri color.  The spoon on the right was altered with Viva Décor’s Precious Metals Lime color.  Once both spoons were dry, I dabbed my finger in Black Soot Distress Paint and rubbed it over the spoons and gently wiped some of it off with a dry cloth. 

I decided to use the Vintaj Patina colored spoon .  It showed up better against the neutral colors of the butterfly.  I used Beacon’s 3 in 1 Glue to glue the parts of the spoon that actually touched the paper.  For added stability I used some wire, which was aged by rubbing Black Soot Distress Paint over it.  I wound the wire around the spoon stem twice and fed both ends through a pre-poked hole.  The ends were then twisted and the excess snipped off.

I then attached the body to the the butterfly wings.  However, before adding the butterfly to the canvas, I wanted to tie the teal color of the altered spoon into the canvas.  So I added Calypso Teal Dylusions Ink Spray with the She Art Doodle stencil.

And for even more texture, I randomly stamped circles using one of the stamps from Claudine Hellmuth Foam Doodle Stamp Set and paint.  After all that was dry, I glued the butterfly to the canvas.

I tore some glassine paper, added some paint and once dry, added the Label Letters, which was glued to the canvas.

And once again I totally surprised myself.  I had doubts that it would turn out as good as it did, but I have to admit, I totally love it.  It came together nicely without any mishaps, which as you know, are pretty common for me.  And the spoon which I thought was too long turned out pretty darned good.  Before I send you over to the eP blog for all the details of the challenge, I wanted to share a little trick I use whenever I work with canvas:

I cut foam board to fit inside the canvas.  Depending on the depth of the canvas, 3 pieces usually are enough. 

I store these with my canvases and so far have made up several to fit the common canvas sizes.  I found this really helps especially with burlap canvas. 

Now, are you ready to see more inspiration from Toni and the rest of the team?  Then hop over to the eP Blog  for all the details.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by – hope you were inspired!

Supplies Used: