Birthday Boy #13 - Seriously Mixed

While looking through printed photos for a photo or two to scrap today, I found this picture from 2007.  It's a perfect photo.  It makes me smile.  It captures the pure joy of the moment!  We had just sang happy birthday and Phillip had just blown out the candles!  

I have been watching scrapbook process videos for inspiration.  It's interesting to watch this girl do mixed media on her scrapbook pages.  I thought I'd give it a whirl.  

I dug out two older Studio Calico scrapbook kits - Sonnet (11/16) and Young at Heart (08/16).  I knew I wanted to try some mixed media on the background, so once I had everything laid out, off it came!  On went the gesso and the Mr. Huey.  It really changed the feel of the page from CAS to (gasp!) messy.  LOL.  This is a little out of my box and not my usual scrapbooking style, which makes me unsure if I like this page or not.  There are certainly parts I love and parts that make me sigh.  But, it is what it is and hey!  You don't grow inside your box.  

May we all express such joy as Mom shows in this picture!  And yeah, love that kiddo!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Supplies:

 - Paper & Accessories:  SC Sonnet SB Kit; SC Young at Heart SB Kit

 - Additional items:  gesso; Mr. Huey Double Yellow, Hot Diggity, Navy & Watercooler

January - WOTY001 Quote Art

Do you choose a word to focus on each year?  This year I chose RISE.  This year I am also hosting the brand spanking new challenge on SCS called WOTY - Word Of The Year.  Each month, a challenge is posted, challenging you to do something crafty with your word.

January's challenge was to find a quote with your word and create "quote art".  

Creating the project - I die cut the letters from some old steel rule dies - nothing like today's thin single letters. LOL. That took a while. I knew I wanted something like lettering on brick walls. I had to decide how to make the brick wall - and how to provide the faux texture. Stamped SU! Weathered BG in gray on watercolor paper, sponged two opposite corners, distressed the edges and sponged again. Everything was attached with gloss gel medium. This was probably an 8 hour project - including all the planning.

Supply list - I'm fairly certain I used my entire craft room.  LOL.  Maybe not.  But it sure was fun.

Stamps: SU! Weathered BG

Paper: Watercolor paper; SU! Yo Yo Yellow, Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo, Midnight Blue, Classic Gray, Soft Suede

Paper Size: 24 x 36

Ink: SC Power Suit

Accessories: acrylic paint (Neutral Gray), distress tool, sponge, gloss gel medium, SU! Serif Essentials; SU! Bigz Alphabet Simple Letters

Techniques: distressing, die cutting

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Project Life - Week 1 2018

Happy New Year!  With the new year comes new papercrafting challenges.  I am flattered to be hosting not one, but TWO, brand spanking NEW challenges over on Splitcoaststampers!  Both are geared towards pocket page style scrapping, but like any challenge, can be applied to any papercrafting project.

Up first is the pocket page challenge, a bi-monthly challenge posted every first and third Wednesday.  

PKP001 challenges you to document the ordinary with a series of suggested prompts - odometer / price of gas, a selfie + this is me or any other host of CURRENTLY's (right now, TV shows, routine, weather, etc).  For WEEK 1 2018, I chose the odometer / price of gasoline and a host of CURRENTLY's.  My CURRENTLY's - rather than document the regular routine - document what's CURRENTLY out of the ordinary - the weather.  It's a bit extreme for us.   There has been nothing ordinary about Week 1 of 2018.  It's been all up in the air.

Title card features white on white - which provides great texture, but did not show up well when photographed.  Journaling cards are from a retired Becky Higgins Project Life Dear Lizzy Mini Kit, sold on HSN a few years ago.  Markers, pens and washi tape complete the spread!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Mixed Media Fun - I'm NOT cold!

One of my favorite things to do is to have morning coffee on the porch sitting in the swing while talking with my husband.  While the morning sun can get to be a bit much once it pops over the tree line each morning, it sure is nice.  I try to extend the "swing season" as long as I can.  "Swing season" currently encompasses "daylight savings time".  So, yeah, as I write this, my swing has just begun hibernation and my outdoor living area is prepped for late fall / early winter.  

It's cold now.  Like 32 degrees cold.  But just three weeks ago, it was 50 degrees in the morning.  And that was a tad chilly.  It's all relative.  Come January, 32 degrees is no longer gonna be "cold".  

So, here I am, sitting on the porch, waiting on my husband.  

 

What you cannot see is the blanket I've used to wrap my legs.  LOL.  My husband, walking up the sidewalk, got a chuckle.  I'm not cold, I said.  And really, I wasn't - under the housecoat and blanket. 

The background on which the page is built is a mixed media piece featuring a technique called "Drunken Acrylic Reveal".  It uses layers of watered down acrylic paint with drops of alcohol to reveal previous layers.  The effect can be quite dramatic, depending on the colors chosen and the order in which they are applied.  My results were subtle and not at all what I was expecting.  I attribute some of that to the brand of acrylic paints I chose to use - as these just don't mix well water water and the lighter colors tend to be transparent rather than opaque when layered over darker colors.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

PL Week 44 (2017)

Another week is in the book!  This happens to be the week of Halloween.  In addition to that, other neat stuff also happened that week.  

A bird's eye view of the week.  Not a single 4 x 6 photo, as I continue to use square photos in place of 4 x 6 landscape orientation photos on my spreads.  I take the majority of my photos with my phone, which means they are mostly in portrait orientation.  However, careful composition of  shots (and this takes practice), oftentimes will yield good square and sometimes even landscape orientation photos from a portrait orientation.

A close up of the left side.  A mix of seasonal and the everyday.  Not many words this week, as the photos and short captions tell the stories.

A close up of the right side.  This is the stuff of everyday life.  Only one story is included, as the photos and short captions continue to tell the story of the week.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!  

Christmas Card Parade - 2

The week before Halloween, I made Christmas cards.  Yep.  This didn't start with Christmas cards in mind.  It started because I wanted to "get messy" and play with mixed media.  I started with a cool twist on the shaving cream technique and wound up with four cards.  Here is the second card.

Hanging ornaments with a scattering of sequins!  I love the subtle pattern on the red layer and the subtle swirls of red throughout the green background.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Christmas Card Parade

The week before Halloween, I made Christmas cards.  Yep.  And as I type this post, I have a PL spread laid out for the week of Halloween.  For some reason, I was so glad to put away the Halloween decorations.  **gasp**  So, while I finish up this PL spread, how about I share some Christmas cards?  

This didn't start with Christmas cards in mind.  It started because I wanted to "get messy" and play with mixed media.  So, off to the mixed media drawer I go.  

Has it been that long?  My gel medium was jelly.  My crackle paste was rock hard.  And the lid on the matte medium would not budge.  The matte medium was salvageable - Dale was able to open the jar!  But not without a colorful phrase!    

Looking for mixed media inspiration, I decide to visit some class materials I had on mixed media projects and learned about a new way to do the shaving cream technique.  I chose a series of green (of course) reinkers (little bottles of liquid ink), grabbed a can of shaving cream (not much in the can and I could have used a shave - but hey - it's crafty time!) and got to work.

Out came several neat unique backgrounds that I made into four unique Christmas cards.  Here is the first one.

Not my original idea, but I thought this was really cute.  An elf.  A headless, arm-less, leg-less elf - but forget that part.  It's still cute!  I was pleased to be able to use so many neat items from my stash!  The doily (there's gold under that collar), the corduroy brads (um, hello!) and the POW glitter paper (the butter of glitter paper).  Plus a sheet of striped designer paper from a past December Daily mini kit.  I don't consider the black cardstock stash, but a staple - gotta have it.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!