Love Songs

The new theme for the Cut It Up challenge will have you singing and sentimental!  Create inspired by your favorite Love Song!  Don't forget your die cuts!!    

I have always been inspired by this love song so perfect for my relationship with Kelly:  What Are you Still Doin' Here?  This boy/guy/man has truly been my greatest blessing and I do wonder sometimes why in the world he has stayed with me!

We've known each other since we were 12 years old and it's been an adventure with lots of "turns in the road"~ well what would you call it when a computer geek and a classically trained oboist end up in the country with a bunch of horses~ that was a major turn!  

One blog post could never begin to explain what we have experienced in the past 43 years of knowing one another and 33 years of marriage.  We've pulled some real stunts (eloping was our best), created some great memories, and built a beautiful family!  As the song says, our lives have been full of mistakes and blessings!

Alright, enough reminiscing, onto this journal page!

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I started by printing the digi, Careful!, made into a silhouette digi cut in Design Space.  I then cut the silhouette out of black vinyl and masking tape.  

I masked off the image and sponge-inked over the page in the colors listed below.  I then stenciled and stamped using the same colors.  

Once that was done, I stenciled stars using paint.  Now, I could remove the mask.  After the paint dried, I stuck on the vinyl silhouette, printed sentiment (lyrics), and silver stars.  I glued a little denim and lace to the edge.

Materials used:

Die cuts:  Careful! from Polkadoodles

Font: Cricut Design Space Kickball
Homemade Stencil for stars cut from CTMH Artistry  

Stencils:  TCW Time Travel, TCW Mini Time for Love
Stamps:  Retired CTMH Backgrounds    
CTMH Inks:  Sapphire, Dutch, Thistle, Gypsy, Midnight Blue, Crystal

Paint:  Blick Acrylic Pearl White

Silver Stars:  Stash

Denim and Lace:  Old jeans and lace from all the years together!

My love song journal page is off to the following challenges/pages:  

We Love to Create:  AG Mixed Media
Try it on Tuesday:  Romance
Creativ Fusion Arts & Crafts:  Love
International Art & Soul:  Make your own background
Die Cut Divas:  Love is in the Air
Polkadoodles Craft and Coloring
Tales from the Craft Room:  Love

When you visit the Cut It Up blog, have fun viewing the DT projects and check out the rules and prize info.  Then be sure to share your project with us ~ don't forget the die cut to have a chance to win a prize from our amazing sponsors. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Lucky in Love!

As we continue down the Path of Positivity, we are pondering Love this month and the idea is to make a project to show someone love.  

Love is an interesting notion as there are so many kinds of love.  The greek language has at least 4 words for love: storge, philia, eros, and agape.  I understand how we can have that many if not more.  Think of how many times you use the word love in a day.

Here is an example of my day:
Feed horses, "Aww, Mommy loves you!!"
Feed dog, "Love you, Cutie!"
Husband leaves for work, "Love you, have a good day.  Be careful on the roads!"
Son calls, "Love you, Sweetie!"
Sit at the computer and type, 'Oooh, love that paper you used on that card!"
Have lunch, "Oh, man, I love this hamburger!"
Pick up grand girl from pre-school, "Hi Baby, Nana loves you!"
Sit down for some tv, "I've always loved that old movie."

You get the idea, we use the word all day never with the same meaning.  Even toward the same person, the word love can be said to convey different feelings in different situations.

So, no matter what sort of love you want to convey, share it with us in a project of any kind over at Path of Positivity!  We'd cherish the chance to share in your love!

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I chose to use this lovely image, Wedded Bliss, from Beccy's Place for a card suitable for any loving occasion!  

The paper is from Whimsy and has the stars printed on it! I put it into Cricut Design Space and printed the horseshoe directly on the paper. Then I added two straight lines to be the string holding the shoe. I printed all that off as one image, copic colored the horseshoe/flower image, and used a white gel pen for the baby's breath flowers. 

Next, I distressed the edges and adhered it to a black card base. Finally, I put a gem on the card when done to act as the nailhead. Of course, for the photo, I added a real horseshoe because everyone has an old shoe laying around their craft room, right? hahaha

Sharing some love at the following challenges:  

Classic Design Team:  AG
Creative Knockouts:  Flower Power
Beccy's Place:  AG with a Beccy's Place Image

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Be sure to come on 
over to 
Path of Positivity 
and see 
what the team 
thinks about Love!  
You can also find 
more information 
about entering 
the challenge!  

Thanks to our 
wonderful sponsors this month:

and

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Courage in Bible Journaling

Today I worked on some Bible Journaling with this beautiful stamp from Duff's Designs (retired). 

  Now I've done some faith journaling in another book, but decided to get a bible just for art journaling.  I don't know why it was so hard for me to actually put medium to Bible page in the past, but it was!  I guess I had those fears of needing it to be perfect if it goes in a Bible, but then I started thinking about all the music I have studied.  The more I study and practice a piece, the more marks there are in the music.  

Ok, why shouldn't my Bible be the same way?  If I'm truly trying to study and understand, maybe there should be "marks" in my Bible!  If those marks are art, stamping, colors, written ideas, or any other creative medium, it must be fine if it's bringing meaning to me.  And guess what, God already knows it isn't going to be perfect.  So, I asked myself, "What's holding you back?  Get to it if this is what you want to do!"

Anyway,  about this page...

I love this stamp and thought the sentiment was perfect with this verse 

I Chronicles 28:20.  "Be strong and courageous, and do the work."  Yeah, that works for me!  The sentiment about strength seemed to sum it all up for me:

Strength

doesn't come

from what

you can do

It comes from 

overcoming 

the things

you once

thought

you couldn't  

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I started by page prepping with Liquitex Gel Medium.  I used 2 coats on the side I was coloring.  I stamped the image with CTMH Cocoa Pigment ink.  I used watercolors to fill in this image.  (I recently purchased a "card" of Daniel Smiths Water colors from Blicks to try out and they are wonderful!  This is a great way to try them out and see if you like them before investing a lot of money.  You also get to try a lot of colors!)   I stamped the sentiment with Memento Black and drew barbed wire around the corners and underneath with gel pens.  

The verse was highlighted with a CTMH Watercolor pencil.  

Nothing bled through and the wrinkling wasn't too bad either.  I did iron on very low heat after the prep and again when finished.  I would say the wrinkling was less than when I did not prep the page on my first entry.  

I'm sharing with the following challenges/pages: 

Crafter's Castle:  AG

Fashionable Stamping: AG

2 Crafty Critter Crazies:  AG with a Critter

Crafty Animals:  AG with an animal

Bible Journaling Made Simple

Outlawz Festive Friday:  AG

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Simple Die Cuts

It's time for new challenge over at The Outlawz Twisted Thursday and our optional twist is Die Cuts!  As you can see, I chose to use some very simple dies here for an effect.  So, even if you don't have many dies, you can still play along with the theme!

This adorable scene, At the Bottom of the Garden, is from Knitty Kitty Digis and is Copic colored.  I have been inspired by Laurel Burch lately when coloring cats, and more cats!  Not sure why, but I can't seem to quit!  hahaha  I added some very simple die cut frames to make these bright, sunny kitties focal points.  

Be sure to visit

 The Outlawz Twisted Thursday for all the details about the challenge and to check out all fun inspiration from the DT and participants!

Nuts About You!

The Digi Choosday Team is sharing hearts this week.  Of course, it's always Anything Goes for all of your entries; so come join us for a chance to win some Polkadoodles digis!  

This adorable little guy and his sentiment are called Nuts About You; I think they make the perfect Valentine!  He would also make a great tag for a jar of nuts for your Sweetie!  Hmm....  I like that idea!  I might be giving this card with a jar of nuts as my Valentine's gift.  Ok, enough thinking out loud; here are the rest of the details. 

The heart die cut is from White Christmas and the background paper is from Love and Kisses.  Off to purchase some nuts.....

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Hey, have you ever wanted to be a Guest Designer with us over at Polkadoodles?  Check out the Digi Choosday page for the details!  

Be sure to head over to Digi Choosday and check out the amazing projects from our team!  Then come share what you are crafting; we'd love to see it!  Remember, when you visit the Digi Choosday Site to pick up your discount code to Polkadoodles; it's good all day today....Tuesday!  It's a great way to pick up those digi's you've had your eye on!  While you're there, you might want to sign up for the Newsletter so you never miss out on special events!

This little guy is scampering off to the following challenges:  

City Crafter:  Floral Background
Die Cuttin' Divas:  AG

Paper Minutes:  Valentine's Day
Dragonfly Journeys:  I Heart You

Thanks for dropping by today.  It's always great to have company!  Please feel free to peruse other pages/posts, visit my Pinterest,  or view some videos at my YouTube Channel.

Puppy Love!

The new theme for the Cut It Up challenge will steal your heart since "Hearts" is the theme!  Don't forget your die cuts!!    

I thought it would be fun to scrap a page about my dog Khloe when she was a pup.  This page is to put in a DIY sort of book and once I have all the pages I want, I'll use my Cinch Binding Tool to put them all together.  I like making my own books since I can make them whatever size I choose.  Sometimes, I just don't want a 12 x 12 layout.

This page measures 8.25 x 5.75 inches.  The pages are all made using different papers depending on what I want to do with them.  For example, I can use watercolor paper, cardstock, re-cycled cereal box, graph paper, etc.  The layout above starts off with a piece of printed cardstock.  

Materials used:

Die cuts:  Valentines Day Puppy from Scrappy Dew

Papers:  Paw design~ digital print from Polkadoodles.  
Heart and Pup papers:  CTMH retired
 Gems and ribbon:  CTMH retired
Inks:  Ranger Distress Vintage Photo

Khloe is off to the following challenges:  

Crafting with Friends:  AG
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge:  Love/Valentines
Moving Along With the Times:  Have a Heart

When you visit the Cut It Up blog, have fun viewing the DT projects and check out the rules and prize info.  Then be sure to share your project with us ~ don't forget the die cut to have a chance to win a prize from our amazing sponsors. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Inspiring a Purr-fect Day!

As we start the journey of a New Year at Path of Positivity, we are pondering Inspiration this month and the idea is to make a project with the purpose of uplifting or motivating someone.  What a great New Year's goal this would be:  Inspire or motivate those around us!

Inspiration comes in many forms: colors, nature, music, animals, philosophy, art, literature, religion/faith, etc.  As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose inspiration is in the heart of the recipient.  What one person will walk by without noticing, another will be affected and sparked to life.

What inspires you and your creativity?  What motivates you to action?  During this New Year may you find what inspires you and may you then inspire others!  

*  *  *

This Peek-A Boo Image is sure to inspire someone to have a Purr-fect Day with this fun sentiment from Scribbles Designs!  

This kitty is off to inspire at the following challenges:

SUYP:  Furrything Goes: Meuw Year
2 Crafty Critter Crazies:  AG with Critter
Pile It On:  Land Animals

Be sure to come on 
over to 
Path of Positivity 
and see 
what the team 
thinks about Inspiration!  
You can also find 
more information 
about entering 
the challenge!  

Thanks to our 
wonderful sponsors this month:

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Layer it Up!

It's time for new challenge over at The Outlawz Twisted Thursday and our optional twist is Layering!  

This adorable scene, At the Bottom of the Garden, is from Knitty Kitty Digis and is Copic colored. I decided it would be fun to try to match the colors in my background paper!  I mostly used E30's and BG's.  I snuck in a few E50's and W's here and there!

I inked the edges of my layer with Ranger Peacock Feathers and Vintage Photo. 

I have layered with papers from Polkadoodles and then layered flowers from my stash.  Gems and twine are also part of my "use it or lose it" stash pile!  hee hee

Off to the following Challenges:  

Use Your Stuff:  Furry Friends: Flowers, Gems, Twine all from Stash!

International Art & Soul:  Cats or Dogs
Daring Cardmakers: (Photo Below) Inspired by Colors, Cat, Butterfly

 

Be sure to visit

 The Outlawz Twisted Thursday for all the details about the challenge and to check out all fun inspiration from the DT and participants!

Mammoth Love

The Digi Choosday Team is sharing Lots of Love this week.  Of course, it's always Anything Goes for all of your entries; so come join us for a chance to win some Polkadoodles digis!  

 Wow, how can there be more love than Mammoth Love?  

I love the Polkadoodles collection Sticks and Bones.  This particular digi is called Mammoth Friends.  There are so many wonderful papers from the collection; however, I chose to go with the pink/brown floral from Horace & Boo.  The sentiment is a combination of "Mammoth" from Sticks and Bones and "Love" from Work & Play 9.  Those hearts are also from from Work & Play 9.

If you haven't checked out Sticks and Bones, I would!  It's so much fun and it is packed with papers, alphabet, digis, flowers, sentiments, cut files, etc.  It's a Mammoth collection and you'll Love it!  Hey, another use for the Mammoth Love!  ;)

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Hey, have you ever wanted to be a Guest Designer with us over at Polkadoodles?  Check out the Digi Choosday page for the details!  

Be sure to head over to Digi Choosday and check out the amazing projects from our team!  Then come share what you are crafting; we'd love to see it!  Remember, when you visit the Digi Choosday Site to pick up your discount code to Polkadoodles; it's good all day today....Tuesday!  It's a great way to pick up those digi's you've had your eye on!  While you're there, you might want to sign up for the Newsletter so you never miss out on special events!

These cuties are riding off to the following challenges:  

TTCRD:  AG
Crafty Animals:  AG with an animal
A Perfect Time to Craft:  AG
A Bit More Time to Craft:  AG
Crafting with Friends:  AG
Outlawz Festive Fridays:  AG

Thanks for dropping by today.  It's always great to have company!  Please feel free to peruse other pages/posts, visit my Pinterest,  or view some videos at my YouTube Channel.

How's the Weather?

The new theme for the Cut It Up challenge will have you looking out the window to ask, "How's the Weather?"  Don't forget your die cuts!!  This snowy card was so fun and easy using the Cricut.  

I simply rearranged some of the snow flakes to fit the card the way I liked.  Then I chose a font (Sentiment) from Polkadoodles Winnie in Winterland and a few snowflakes to print from stash and my Print and Cut was ready to .....uh,,,,, print and cut!  

I used a piece of blue paper from stash and cut it to fit my front panel.  I sprayed it with an adhesive spray.  While the spray was still sticky, I sprinkled fine glitter onto the snowflakes.  The outside border looks shiny from the adhesive ~ bonus!

I wanted to pop that sparkly blue, so I went for a black cardstock for the bottom layer.  

Dies include:  

Snowflakes:  CTMH Artfully Sent

My weather forecast is off to the following challenges:  

Card Mania:  Baby It's Cold Outside
Christmas Crafts All Year:  Let It Snow
Creative Craft Cottage:  Winter

When you visit the Cut It Up blog, have fun viewing the DT projects and check out the rules and prize info.  Then be sure to share your project with us ~ don't forget the die cut to have a chance to win a prize from our amazing sponsors. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Inspiring Peace

As we start the journey of a new year at Path of Positivity, we are pondering Inspiration this month and the idea is to make a project with the purpose of uplifting or motivating someone.  Well, I suppose I felt I needed some inspiration here at the start of the year!  

I chose to use this beautiful image, Peace Dove, from Ike's Art in some Bible journaling.   

I felt it would illustrate the verses in Philippians 4:4-9 quite nicely.  I am motivated to work on making our home and my life as peaceful as I can.  


I used colored pencils to color the peace sign and the olive branch.  Then I went with Inktense pencils to "water color" the blue.  When it came time to highlight the text, I drew over it with my Inktense pencil and then wiped over it the verses with a baby wipe.  

The funny/ironic part of it was when I did this, I couldn't get the color to go over the text: "put it into practice."  This made me smile and I quit trying to add color to that part.  It seemed to point out to me, you won't get it, but PRACTICE it anyway!  hee hee  Being a musician, I know there are many pieces I can work on over and over, but there is much to be gained from the practice even if I NEVER get it exactly right!  And the good news for me is, as long as I put these good things into practice, the God of Peace will be with me!  

So, now I'm motivated to practice ~  music, peace, art, and other noble attributes!  

Happy New Year!


*  *  *

Be sure to come on 
over to 
Path of Positivity 
and see 
what the team 
thinks about Inspiration!  
You can also find 
more information 
about entering 
the challenge!  

Thanks to our 
wonderful sponsors this month:

Thanks for stopping by!  Make yourself at home and feel free to peruse other posts/pages, leave a comment, and/or check out my Pinterest and YouTube Channel.

Animal Antics

It's time for new challenge over at The Outlawz Twisted Thursday and our optional twist is Animal Antics!  

This adorable scene, At the Bottom of the Garden, is from Knitty Kitty Digis and is Copic colored. I added some kitties from the Cricut library (Cartridge: Meow) to look as if the kittens in the scene were dreaming of doing some silly things!  Not that any kitty would ever do that!  hahaha

Off to the following Challenges:  
2 Crafty Critter Crazies:  AG with a critter
Perfect Time to Craft:  AG
Classic DT Open:  AG

Be sure to visit

 The Outlawz Twisted Thursday for all the details about the challenge and to check out all fun inspiration from the DT and participants!

Happy New Year!

The Digi Choosday Team is sharing Something New or Thank youthis week.  Of course, it's always Anything Goes for all of your entries; so come join us for a chance to win some Polkadoodles digis!  

 I chose to go with something new!  I'm starting some new journals this year and one of the journals is art inspired by music.  This particular page is inspired by.......can you guess?  If you were around listening in the '80's you probably know the song:  Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac.  

Let's see, I think I was just starting my Freshman year in college when this song hit the Billboard Charts.  Of course, that was just a few years ago, right?  hahaha

I started with the wonderful Polkadoodles digi Maddie Give us a Twirl.  Who better to represent Stevie Nicks, the Queen of Twirl, than Maddie! I combined her with paper from Winnie Starfish and Sandcastles.  I added a crystal ball (made by altering some cuts) and the flowers are from Horace & Boo Floral Foliage.  

Maddie was printed, cut, and Copic colored and accented with some silver gel pen.  Then I added fabric and ribbons to make her dress look like she really is twirling!  The sentiment is part of the song and computer generated.  I added glitter to the crystal ball and sequins & sparkles around the page.  I finished it by inking with black around the borders.  

*   *   *   

Hey, have you ever wanted to be a Guest Designer with us over at Polkadoodles?  Check out the Digi Choosday page for the details!  

Be sure to head over to Digi Choosday and check out the amazing projects from our team!  Then come share what you are crafting; we'd love to see it!  Remember, when you visit the Digi Choosday Site to pick up your discount code to Polkadoodles; it's good all day today....Tuesday!  It's a great way to pick up those digi's you've had your eye on!  While you're there, you might want to sign up for the Newsletter so you never miss out on special events!

This journal page is off to the following challenges:  

Love to Create:  AG Mixed Media

International Art & Soul:  Sparkle

My Time to Craft:  Something New

The Three Muses:  Let's Celebrate

Thanks for dropping by today.  It's always great to have company!  Please feel free to peruse other pages/posts, visit my Pinterest,  or view some videos at my YouTube Channel.