Jacob's Second Year Mini Album

"Boo is Two!" Can you believe my sweet grandson is 

2 years old already!

Here is a mini album I created with a page for each month of Jacob's second year.

The album is 4" x 12". I used the Max and Whiskers line by Basic Grey. The title is American Crafts Thickers. The edges are cut with Tim Holtz Alterations dies.

366 Art Journal/Calendar Apr/May

Here is installment #5 of my 366 Art Journal/Scrapbook/Calendar project! If you are unfamiliar with this project, see my original post here. (You can click on any of my pictures to enlarge for a better look if you like!)
Here is the completed April calendar:

 and the full April spread:

 The May calendar:

 and the full May spread: (full size of scrapbook side is in the post below this one)

 For the May pages I used the Alora line by BoBunny. I won a huge packet of paper and embellishments from this line from Page Maps for my April spread! In the interest of full disclosure, here is what the papers look like straight from the manufacturer:

So, you can see I had an amazing base to start with! In addition to the paper and embellishments by Bo Bunny, I used rub-ons by Kaiser, Karen Foster and k i memories as well as Thickers by American Crafts, ribbon by Santa's Workshop for Joann, and velour flowers from an unknown manufacturer. The stamp used to make the calendar days is by Martha Stewart with Distress Ink by Ranger.
Thanks for looking at my project, be sure to pop over to The Kathryn Wheel to see what other artists have created for their calendars this month.

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Recipe!

Greetings! This week Frosted Designs has a recipe challenge for you-use any four of the following on your project:  

rub ons, ribbon, brads, stickers, 

glitter, the color purple, butterfly, flower 

Remember we are all about using up your stash so get digging, creating, and linking up with us! Our prize sponsor this week is Graphic 45 and the prize is THREE of their amazing paper packs!

On my layout I've used Rub-ons, Ribbon, Stickers, Glitter, and Flowers.

This page will be the May layout side of my 366 ArtJournal/Calendar. I will post the calendar side as well as the completed April spread over the weekend.

Thanks for looking! I appreciate your comments!

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Hexagons!

Greetings and happy Fabulous Friday! Today's challenge at Frosted Designs is to use hexagons on your project. I took this gorgeous picture of my beautiful daughters on Easter Sunday and wanted to scrap it the second I saw it.

 I saw this pretty quilted tree on this blog and new that it was to be my hexagon inspiration!

Here are some close-ups:

I thought the hexagon scraps would make cute leaves!


My tree is made with Tim Holtz/Core'dinations Kraft Core paper from the Nostalgic Collection. Each hexagon (all 49 of them!) was hand cut, dry embossed, then sanded. The tree trunk is free form cut, sanded on the left side and inked on the right side to add the illusion of dimension. The "flower" hexagons are pop-doted for dimension also. The base paper is made by 3Birds and was in a collection I bought from HSN probably 6-7 years ago when I was buying everything they sold on scrapbooking days at HSN! C'mon - you know you did it too! The felt birds and felt tree limb are Maya Road. The journaling spots are My Minds Eye (Kraft), K&Company and Pink Paislee. The letters are by Doodlebug Designs, American Crafts Thickers, and Pink Paislee. All Ink is Tim Holtz Distress.


Thanks for checking out my blog! I hope you are inspired to make a project using hexagons and link it up over at Frosted Designs - a fabulous prize from Vintage Street Market will be awarded to one random entry and three entries will be chosen to be spotlighted on the blog!


Oh, and leave me some love - I sure could use it this week!

366 Art Journal/Calendar Mar/Apr

AAAACCCKKKK! almost 2 weeks into the month and I'm just getting my completed March and blank April calendar pages posted! Maybe if I start on May right now, I'll get it up on time! Anyway, if you're not familiar with this project, see my original post here! Pop over to Kate's blog to check out what other artists have done with this project.
Here is March Calendar completed:

and the full March spread:

Here is April Calendar ready to go:

and the full April spread:

Thanks for stopping by  my blog! 

I appreciate your comments!

Spring blooms!

Oh what a lovely spring we've had here in the Northeast! 

I managed to get a few pictures of my cherry trees just before the big windy day came and blew off all the blossoms, and I am thrilled that the pansies I put in last fall wintered over and bloomed as well!

The Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs 

this week is "banner".

I made a cute row of upside down umbrellas into a banner for my layout! This layout will be the left side of my 366 Art Journal, when I get the calendar side ready to go I'll post the full spread. (See this post for more info on the  366 Art Journal)

I used this awesome sketch from the Page Maps blog and entered Becky's challenge this month:

Here are some close ups and an angled shot to show the dimension (I pop-dotted every other umbrella)

 

 Supplies include: Patterned paper - Echo Park (Victoria Gardens), SEI (Mimosa); Journaling block - Making Memories (Flutter); Distress Ink - Ranger (gathered twigs, tea dye); Lace Trim - Offray; Twine - The Twinery (blossom); Crochet Thread - Columbia; Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug; Stitching Pattern - Bazzil; Versafine Ink (Vintage Sepia); Staples - Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Letter Stamps - Studio G; Letter stickers - Doodlebug Design (Loopy Lou); Chipboard - Maya Road; Felt bird - Maya Road; Pearls - Close To My Heart; StazOn Ink (Cherry Pink); Rub-ons - unknown from stash. Punches used: Tags are EK Success and Butterflies are Martha Stewart

I hope you will create a layout, card, or off the page project using a banner and enter the fun at Frosted Designs this week! There is always a fabulous prize for one random winner and the staff chooses three submissions for special feature on the blog - c'mon - join us!

Thanks for stopping by my blog - 

I appreciate your comments!

My sweet Hello Kitty girl!

This week's Fabulous Friday challenge 

at Frosted Designs is "Grid". 

There are many interpretations of this challenge by the design team so hop on over and check it out! 

(I used background paper with a grid design)

I used this awesome sketch by Becky Fleck and entered her challenge this month:

The grid paper is by My Minds Eye from the Lush Blue collection. The rest of the papers and the die cuts are by Crate Paper from the Paper Doll collection. 
The cherub/heart is cut off the front of a Valentine card my mom sent me. The original banner says "Thinking of You", I made a new banner and stamped "so Sweet" on it with Studio G stamps and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy. I raised it up off the page with American Crafts This to That Foam Dots.
The Hello Kitty label "sewn" to the side of the journaling block is cut off the jammies!
Other product used: White Pen by Inkssentials, Pearls by recollections, ric rac and pink trim from my stash. Border punch by EK Success and Corner rounder by WRMK. 
Tim Holtz distress inks: pine needles, broken china, brushed corduroy, worn lipstick.

Here are some close-ups (click to enlarge):

Thanks for looking! I appreciate your comments!

I hope you will make a project using the prompt "grid" and share it with us at Frosted Designs!

A new canvas - Love, Prayer, Forgiveness

First let me introduce you to Courtney Walsh - she is an amazing writer, blogger, scrapper and all around awesome lady! She recently had a book published and asked some uber talented artists to create pieces inspired by her book 
A Sweethaven Summer. In turn, she asked her blog readers to create pieces inspired by those artists' pieces! (Well, that was hard to explain!) -  
Here is a link to Courtney's blog post all about it!
When I read the post on forgiveness it really spoke to my heart. The artist for the post is Tammy Tutterow whom I have followed for a while now because her work is completely amazing. Now, after reading her post, I admire her even more. I was so inspired by her story and just love the quote she used on her piece so I used the same quote on mine: 


H. Jackson Brown Jr, the author of Life's Little Instruction Book:

"Never forget the three powerful resources you always
have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."  

 My canvas is 8"x8" covered first with vintage book paper, then patterned tissue paper by Hallmark. I scraped cornflower blue acrylic paint by Making Memories over the tissue paper with a credit card. The gorgeous green ferns are made with Delta Creative Texture Magic dimensional paint in Fern Green stippled through a Balzer Designs 6"x6" template called Mini Peacock Feathers by Crafters Workshop. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled it with Zing white embossing powder. The embossing powder kind of clumped up on the paint and wouldn't melt so didn't do what I expected but I like it! The bird cage is a Spellbinder's die, the bird stamp is by Close To My Heart, the ink is Staz-On, the paper is by Creative Memories, and I apologize that I do not know who the rub-ons are made by. Of course, there is a load of Mod Podge holding the whole thing together!

Here are some close-ups (you can click on the pictures to enlarge if you like)

There is still plenty of time to enter Courtney's challenge &

The Frosted Designs challenge this week is "Things with Wings". 

There are awesome prizes to be won both places so I hope you are inspired to join us! 

C'mon - go create! (after you leave me some blog love!)

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Kraft!

This week's Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs is to use Kraft paper - how easy is that? C'mon, join us! There'll be a fabulous prize for one random draw winner and three projects will be chosen to be featured on the Frosted Designs blog!
Here is my card made with Kraft paper:

I cut a piece of Kraft card to 4" x 5 1/4". Stamped it with a Glitz Designs stamp using Tim Holtz distress inks in vintage photo. Opened up my Cuttlebug embossing folder and rubbed the same distress ink on the flat side, put my paper in with the stamped side to the inked side of the folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug machine. This puts the ink on the flat parts leaving the embossed areas un-inked. I cut the bird from vintage music paper using a Tim Holtz die, inked it with the vintage photo ink and adhered it to the kraft. After inking the kraft I wrapped it with baker's twine by Divine Twine. A piece of Kraft cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" serves as the card base. I adhered the card front to the card base then tied on a beaded sprig by Prima with more baker's twine. A few small Zots adhesive dots help hold it on.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! 
I appreciate your comments!

366 Art Journal/Calendar Feb/Mar

I am on my third month joining Kate and lots of other artists in making a 2012 366 day Art Journal/Calendar.
If you are unfamiliar with my project, see my original post here. If you have time, pop over to Kate's blog and check out the other artists ideas!

Here is my March scrapbook style side:

This layout is based on a sketch by Heather Waldron of Scrappy Sketches found here. I came across her blog the other day while surfing - I'm loving her sketches and am sharing my layout on her site! My layout also meets the criteria for the tic-tac-toe challenge at The Paper Variety (bottom row - stitching, layout, die-cut) so I'm entering there also. I am linking up at Scrap Whispers where they are dedicating a challenge in memory of a dear friend and fellow scrapper.

Here is my March calendar side:

and the full March spread:

 

Here is my February calendar completed:

and my full February spread:

Product listing for March spread:
Paper: My Minds Eye Quite Contrary, So Sophie, Penny Lane. Die-cuts: My Minds Eye. Brown scappop Trim: Flair designs. Ranger Distress Inks: Broken china, Forrest moss, Walnut stain, Vintage photo. Letter stickers: Doodlebug Designs Loopy Lou. Journal sheet: Fancy Pants Designs. Rub on numbers: Karen Foster. Rub on Faux stitching, rick-rak, dots, numbers: October Afternoon. Staz-on Inks Azure and Olive. Cream lace trim - unknown. Spellbinders die.

At the suggestion of a fellow blogger, I have added a "follow by e-mail" request button to my side bar. Since I do not post every day, instead of checking in, you can submit your e-mail and you will get a message on the days I have a new post.

Thank you for looking at my blog today! I truly appreciate your comments and input!

Valentine from Jacob

My very first piece of refrigerator art as a grandmother is a Valentine from Jacob. (Thank you Robin!) In the pictures Jacob is putting it on the fridge with magnets and showing me how he stamped his feet on the paper with paint.

(His mommy said he did NOT like the paint on his feet at all - he doesn't like his hands to be messy either!)

I used this awesome sketch by Jenny Evans 

and entered my layout at Boys Rule.

Here are some close ups. Sorry they are blurry but I wanted to show you the sparkle on the die cuts.

All of the paper, die cuts, and letter stickers are by Crate Paper from the "Mia" collection. The gems are by Gem Art, I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in "gathered twigs", "aged mahogany", and "brushed corduroy". The font is Cambria