Elegant

I love this picture of my grandparents from the 1920's!  I'm working on a book for my dad; it's slow but sure at this point.  I need to check out a few more facts before I journal this one.  I believe it was taken outside of the mortuary where they were working at the time, but I need to make sure of the state before I do any writing.

This background paper is from BoBunny.   The large parchment flower is from Prima, but I glitzed it up with some seed beads.  The little flowers by the birdbath are from "e".

CTMH embellishments include:  Oceanside Sequins, Baroque Brooch, Aqua Dots, Small Flourishes.

CTMH stamps include:  Amour and Fabulous You.  The paper strips are also from CTMH.

This was inspired by the challenge over at 123 Get Scrappy.  I chose to go with the top row.  I used lace from my stash, mint color background, and there are feathers on the birds.  Ok, that last one was a stretch!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Rainy Day

Rain, rain, go away!

Ah, yes, Springtime in the Midwest where the temperatures change by 20 degrees within a few hours; rain falls, snow falls and the sun shines all in the same day!  Gotta' love it!

But what is cuter than a little girl skipping along with her umbrella in the rain!

This LO was done with CTMH Cotton Candy, Whisper, Sweet Leaf and Daisy White Cardstocks.  The stencils were cut from Artbooking and the stamp is CTMH Adorable Backgrounds.

The splashing rain is homemade texture paste.

The umbrella Cricut cut is from Nate's ABC's with some little petals from Art Philosophy and some pink glitter gems embellishing it.  Rainy Day is from When I was a Kid.

The pink, metal flower is from the CTMH Brushed Assortment.  I also put in a little strip of Silver Shimmer Trim.  The little blue gems are STILL left over from the wedding!  Yes, those will be around for a long time!  ; )

This LO is off to the following challenges;

Heart 2 Heart:  How Cute -  I think that little girl in the rain is pretty cute!
Cut It Up:  Spring - anything but a card and use a die cut

Thanks for coming by today!  Hope it's warm and dry where you are!

grateful

I went backwards in time a few years with this pic.  This is one of Keith's HS Senior pics; he's a Sr at Purdue currently!  I never scrapped this one and thought it was long overdue!  Of course, there are pics of my daughter I haven't scrapped yet, also and she's older. Oh well, they'll stay in iPhoto 'til I'm ready!  ;)

This sketch is from Scrap Our Stash.  The challenge is to follow the sketch and use gold embellishments.  I hope you can see the gold spray I've used in the layout and the gold brads.

This was one stenciled, sprayed, heat embossed, sewn on the machine, hole punched, frayed, inked,,,,,, you get the idea.  There's a little bit of everything on this LO.  The stamp sets and card stocks are from CTMH and DCWV Rustics.  Denim is from an old pair of jeans.  Burlap and shimmer trim are CTMH, also.

Ok, it's a really nice day outside.  So, I'm out to work in the barn while the weather is cooperating!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Going Green, but not St. Patrick's Day!

Tis the season to go green, but I didn't have any St. Patrick's Day cards to send or any LO's to do.  So, I'm going Christmas with my green!

I used lots of green in this project including Sweet Leaf, Pear and Topiary inks along with the Pear and Brushed polka dot paper from CTMH.

The die cuts are from:
Tickets: Artbooking with Yuletide Carol WOG Stamp Set
Stamp and Ornaments:  Art Philosophy with Home for the Holidays SOTM
Title:  Artbooking
Tree with Bow:  Winter Frolic

CTMH Embellishments:  Sequins from Lollydoodle and Baker's Twine.
Other Embellishments:  Sparkle gems and sequins from stash.

There is also an old die cut on there and I'm not sure where it is from!  I had used it on another project and saw it in my box.  The color was right, so it was included along with the scrap of green behind it!

This LO is going off to the following green challenges!

Craft Hoarders Anonymous  Go Green

Stuck On U Sketches  Lucky green with die cuts.

Heart 2 Heart  Green with Envy

Live Out Loud!

The directive has officially been handed down.  I am in charge of my nephew's scrapbook(s) for his graduation.  Luckily, he's still a Jr so I have lots of time; but I don't want to rush at the last minute.  I'm going through old pics in my iPhoto and scrapping away!  There are lots of awards pics as well has music photos to scrap!  Ah, the fun has just begun...

The challenge over at Heart 2 Heart is to use your favorite sketch.  I have to say, I really enjoy sketches.  They are such great springboards for a project.  This LO happens to be a simplified take of the LO in the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book page 21.  This says it comes from pattern 15 in the Make It from Your Heart Vol 2.  I don't have that book.  I could borrow one from my daughter, but I was in too much of a hurry!  I'm a little like Varuca from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!  Patience is not my strong suit when it comes to waiting to make something!  ;)  

Anyway, I like this sketch because you can simplify it or glam it up with lots of embellishments.  Maybe I'll do the same sketch with a different twist on it.  Hmmmmm......... wheels are turning!  Actually, most of my LO's from sketches are variations.  Not because I'm that creative, but because I'm somewhat dyslexic.  My brain just can't seem to translate what is on the book/computer screen to my eyes and then to my hands!  I failed mechanical drawing in MS because the elements would be there, but never in the right places!  Oh well........back to the matter at hand....I have digressed!

I started with Pacifica CS and used my sanding block to sand over the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. Then I mixed up some Sky Re-inker, Create a Shade Pearl Paint, and a few drops of Rubbing Alcohol to thin down the mixture.  I used a paint brush to splatter the CS.  The Pearl paint gives it a metallic shine you can't see very well in the pics.  I like it since the trumpet has shine!

The filmstrip is from Artiste.  I backed the large photo with Black and Fundamental Glacier CS's.     

Thanks for coming by.  Many more LO's of my smart, talented nephew to come!  

My Sister!

 I'm back at it in my Crush Book again!  I know I always talk about how much I enjoy this book, but I do!  The hearts are texture paste and this book takes it like a pro.  I load the pages with embellishments and such and it always stands to the challenge.  You just can't say that about all art journals/books.

I was inspired by the Challenge over at Heart 2 Heart where the theme is Opposites Attract.  For me, this was all about my sister and me!  She was the tall, thin, pretty one.  I was the short, stockier, cute one.  She is strong in Science and very smart; I was more creative and excelled in music.  She was popular; I was an oboe player!  ;)  (Really, think back to that kid who played oboe in your HS band.  What?  You don't even remember him/her?  You do and you thought he/she was the nerdiest person you'd ever met?  Yeah, that was--is me!)

Anyway, you get the idea!  We are pretty much opposite of each other.  However, we both love ice cream and share it quite frequently!

This page, although it's in the Wildwood book, features the Brushed papers and compliments.  The flower is made from some old fabric and has a center piece from the Wander compliments.  The letters are from Artbooking.

Thanks for coming by today and give your sister/brother a call!  You know she/he would love some ice cream!  ;)

Our Secrets!

There's nothing like the secrets a little girl shares with her horse!  This layout, inspired by the Frosted Designs challenge, has lots of room for written secrets to be stuffed down in a pocket to look at later!

The challenge is to use recycled items and a homemade flower.  My home made denim flower is made of old light-weight denim and a button.  So, my flower is recycled!  I also used some old torn lace in the layout.

Thanks for coming by to see my Scrappy horse Thunder and his girl!

The background paper is Prairie Chic from Bo Bunny and the other flowers are CTMH.

The Professor's Studio

Here's a throw back Thursday on a Tuesday!  ;)  

This is a pic of me when I was in college a few years ago......ok, maybe more than a few!  My son's impending college graduation has me looking back at some old photos and I decided it was time to get this one in a layout.  This pic was taken in my oboe professor's studio.  I was caught off guard when a friend came by and snapped the pic while I was frantically cramming before my instructor came back with his tea.  Wow, seems like another lifetime now.  How does an oboe major end up where I am today..........a therapeutic horsemanship instructor?  Yee gads!  How life twists and turns.

Oh well, I can't complain; it's been a very interesting life thus far!

 Sketchabilities provided the sketch layout.  I started very closely following it and then things took a turn.  Hmm..... sort of like my life!  hahahah

Color My Heart provided the colors.

I started with Whisper CS and streaked it with Daisy White Pigment Ink.  I stamped over it with Slate ink (I don't have any Whisper ink) using the Universal Backgrounds stamp.

I turned to my Cricut for the cuts and font using Black and Daisy White CS's.  I believe most of the cuts come from Quarter Note.  I have a subscription with my Design Space and sometimes I don't write down which cartridges I use.  I wish DS had the ability to click the cut once in the layout and display the cartridge name.  That feature was in CCR, but they didn't seem to put it in DS, unless of course I've missed it.  Please share if you know it does indeed exist!

My embellishments include:  CTMH Epoxy Bubbles, and For Always Fabric (the flower).

Off to dig out more
old pictures!  Have a great day!

Rings

This layout is a little out of the ordinary for me, but I was in the mood to do something different.  I have to admit, I made this for the challenge a couple of weeks ago and then realized I couldn't use black, so here it is for this week's challenge at Color My Heart!

I don't have Whisper ink, so I had to sub in Slate.  I did use Whisper Cardstock along with Black and Daisy White.

My stamp sets include:  Love Life, Love, Amour, and Big Hug.  Embellishments include Silver Shimmer Trim, Sparkles Flourishes (I cut it apart to make the design) and Gems.  I also used the Quatrefoil Embossing folder on my background piece of Whisper CS.

Thanks for coming by today!

From Thunder's Point of View

Have you ever had the perfect sketch, paper, embellishments, pictures, etc and still couldn't make a layout work?  I struggled with this one for days before I came to this revelation: this is not MY story!  I needed to scrap/write it from Thunder's point of view!  Once I figured that out, it came together.

If you look closely at the pictures, you'll notice Thunder walking quietly behind and beside his girl.  Then as they got closer to the barn, our younger horse decided to check things out and Thunder felt this was entirely unnecessary!  Note those pinned back ears and Rubin moving away with crossed over legs!  Kelly and Lucy are laughing because Kelly knows exactly what is going on here, but he also knows he needs to move Lucy along and get her into the barn in case Rubin doesn't yield to Thunder's warning!  Thunder is very protective of this little girl and I am now inspired to do another LO from his vantage point.

I used the wonderful sketch from Stuck?! Sketches.  If you've not visited that site, I highly recommend it.  I have to say, I can never seem to leave the sketch alone and this one was no exception. I rotated it and flipped it!  I loved the sketch the way it was, but I couldn't seem to make my pics work......like I said I struggled with this LO until I thought about how Thunder would want it!  ; )

The background paper is from DCWV Rustic Stack.  The blue behind that is from Core'dinations.  The rest of the paper is CTMH.

CTMH Embellishments include:  Epoxy Bubbles, Floret Paper Flowers, and Timberline Assortment.

Stash Embellishments:  Lace, lace heart, horseshoe sticker and buttons.

Cricut cuts include:  My Girl - Once Upon a Princess, Paisley pieces - Holiday Cakes, and the background Swirl is from Wild Card.

Ok, I'm out to the barn to talk to Thunder about his next LO idea.  I'm sure he'll have something in that sweet head of his!

Have a scrappy day!

A Cute Kitty!

These pictures have been sitting in my iPhoto for over 2 years.  I decided they were way too cute to sit there any longer!

I was inspired by several challenges today!  Scrap Our Stash has a fun challenge where we were challenged to use some item for each letter in the word STENCIL.  Here is my breakdown:

STENCIL

Sassitude sticker, Stick on gems

Twine

Embossed paper, Epoxy Bubble

Neon Pink Gel Pen, Numbers in the date

Cat, CTMH Paper

Ink

Liquid Glass

Bitten by the Bug 2 is celebrating National Old Stuff Day.  The challenge there is to use a cartridge we haven't used in a while.  I have to say, the last time I used Meow was back in September; for me that's a while!  I tend to use the same cartridges over and over; so, going 5 months is a long time!  I also have to say I used some new cartridges in DS I had never used before:  Once Upon a Princess, Recess, and Home Organizer.  The balloons are from Flourishes, but I use that pretty regularly.

Pile It On challenged us to use Adhesive Elements!  That's an easy one for me!  I love them.  I have an Epoxy Bubble, a White Pearl Gem, four Flamingo Gems and 2 stickers from the CTMH Brushed Sticker complements.  

Sentimental Sundays is Anything Goes with a Sentiment.  My sentiment is a bit Sassy today!

613 Avenue Create is always Anything Goes, but this week their optional twist it Dr. Seuss!  I realize my kitty is not from Cat in the Hat, but it's still a cat and that is that! (That was my attempt at some Dr. Seuss poetry! hahaha)

As always, thanks for coming by today.  Make it a good one!

 

Hey there, Cupcake!

Think Pink is one of the challenges over at Heart 2 Heart this month!  What's better than a festive pink cupcake?  Yum!  I missed the deadline to post it there, but I'll share here anyway!

I made this card as a birthday card, but I suppose it could go for many different occasions.  I used the December SOTM and stamped the cupcakes in Crystal Blue, Honey, and Cotton Candy.  I backed it with Crystal Blue CS.  The pink patterned paper is from Brushed.  The cupcake cut is from Art Philosophy.  I stamped the frosting with the I'ts a Party set that comes with the AP Bundle.  I stamped it and glittered it!  Hey, what's a birthday without glitter and sparkle?

The cupcake wrapper is adhered with some 3-D tape.  

I finished it out with some Sparkle Flourishes, Shimmer Trim and Flamingo Dots.   

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope it's a great day for you!

Another Country Girl

I missed the challenge over at Color My Heart last week, so I got on it quickly this time!  I was motivated by the colors:  Outdoor Denim, Sunset, Honey, Daisy White, and Olive.  

I lucked out on this one because I still had pieces left over from the Olive Mini-Medley!  The long border arrow is the strip in the chipboard compliments from Ariana; another left over piece I forgot I had!  All of my flower cuts were from Artiste and Art Philosophy.  The Country Girl is from Old West.  

I had some left over lace and a scrap button laying on the table, so they got glued down!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Move It!

This is another one of the canvases I did for a PATCH student.  In case you missed the info about these canvases, you can refer to this blog for the back story!

This young lady showed to the song "Move It" from Madagascar.  She wore the cutest costume and did such a great job with her horse!

I started the canvas with homemade glimmer mist made from CTMH Create a Shade Paint (retired), water, and Sky re-inker.  I stenciled the animal print with CTMH Pear ink with a stencil made from the Cricut Stencil Cartridge.  The polka dots are homemade texture paste tinted with CTMH re-inker.  I used a stencil cut from the CTMH Artfully Sent Cartridge.

I found the Madagascar image on the internet; I printed and cut it with my Cricut.  The Zebra is cut larger and popped off with 3-D tape.  The arrows are from a stencil I had in my stash and the groovy tape is Duck tape!  The title is cut from CTMH Ruby and Honey card stock.

This is going off to the Exotic Animal Challenge at Cut it Up!  Doesn't get much more exotic than those Madagascar characters!  ; )

If you would like to see more of these canvases, here are links to some of the others:  Yankee Doodle, Ode to Joy, Happy, and Let It Go.

Thanks for stopping by to see my exotic animals!

Trip to the Wax Museum

Ah, yes, a trip to the Elementary School Wax Museum to see my nephew portraying Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley.  The assignment was to choose a famous Hoosier and portray his/her life in a wax museum.  The portrait page of this layout is inspired by the sketch over at Stuck on U Sketches.  There are still a few more days to play this sketch if you are interested!

The embellishments were cut on the Cricut from these cartridges:  Heritage and Art Philosophy. I inked, stamped, etc.  

CTMH stamps include:  Distressed Backgrounds, Sweet and Lovely, and Universal Backgrounds.

I've included the 2nd page of my LO so you can see all the fun at the Wax Museum!  ; )  The sign below was cut from Art Philosophy and the letters were printed using the writing feature on the Cricut.  

Most of the papers are from CTMH.  I threw in a couple of scraps from my stash.  

Now I leave you with a little poetry by James Whitcomb Riley.  When you grown up in Indiana, you learn this poem!

Little Orphant Annie

James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun
A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,--
So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wasn’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was thist his pants an’ roundabout--
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;
An’ onc’t, when they was “company," an’ ole folks was there,
She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!