Movie Date (Gossamer Blue April Kit & Paper Bakery Sketch)

I love this memory. It was right before I went into the hospital to deliver Ro. Miss I wanted to see the Disney movie Brave. It was her first movie, and our last real Mommy, Daddy, Miss I date. It was important to make sure that it was exactly what she wanted as very soon, she was not going to be an only child. We went to the movie. I dumped popcorn all over everywhere. Then, we went to Ben & Jerry's. Miss I was so pumped, that she couldn't even sit through the movie, she kept standing up the entire time.

For this layout, I used pieces from my April Gossamer Blue kit, and the coordinating Bits & Pieces Add-on. I normally don't ever get any of the add-ons... But with all of the lovely Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper products, I couldn't resist. I also used the most adorable Elle's Studio stamp.

Inspired by AtomicVenetia...

I love finding inspiration from my local sources (meaning... snagging ideas from my lovely friends). In this case, I used a layout that my friend Venetia created. I used a few of the ideas that she had used in her layout, to inspire my choices.

I was inspired by splattered ink, floral washi, banners, little embellishments scattered and tilted journaling. Hers was hidden, but I used a tag from the Gossamer Blue April Bits & Pieces Add-On. The paper, washi tape, and frames are from the April Main Kit. I'm really loving the combo of navy and pink that seems to be everywhere now!! And the Maggie Holmes products were lovely!!

MWM Amber 7 & Gossamer Blue's March Kit

I've been pretty lame on the MWM front this term. There is no possible way that I would remotely finish all of the Amber sketches... I do have a few that I actually did finish. Here, I used the Amber 7 MWM by the wonderful Melodee Cloud.

I loved this photo from Easter. There was so much pink loveliness. I also snagged some cute sequins from Michael's in rainbow colors. They just HAD to be glued to the rainbow hearts on the fantastic Glitz paper that was in Gossamer Blue's March kit. It really was an amazing kit; full of bright colors and fun patterns.

Drawing a Day: Day One, First Steps

While I teach art, I do not give myself the time to devote to my personal drawings and paintings. I recently acquired the book, One Drawing a Day by Veronica Lawlor (website), for my classroom. I chose this particular book, as many of my students want to be perfectionists rather than artists. To truly be an artist, I think you simply have to practice and want to better yourself. You have to be okay with one day creating a masterpiece, and another day, junk. I often tell students that the learning is in the process, not the project.

So, I'm taking on the challenge. 42 drawings. Some may be great, some may be awful. I'm not going to worry about it, and just create.

Still Life of Random Items, colored pens and white pastel

AUTHENTIQUE: Gift Bags For Mom and Dad

Today, I am one of two artists who is being featured on the Authentique Blog. I'm just going to give you a little sneak peek, you have to head over to see the rest (and Angie's BEAUTIFUL frame!!) Enjoy!

The Joys of Electronics...

Just a little FYI... My computer is currently busted. Not fun. Luckily I have Carbonite and it's backed up all of my information. Unfortunately, this means that I am currently without my trusty programs. Who knew that I really depended THAT much on my Silhouette for crafting?!?!?!?!?

Anyway... I will update, just not as often as I'd like to until it all gets fixed :)

Cute Little Card

Here's just a sweet little card using the April Gossamer Blue kit. I just love the new Maggie Holmes Crate Paper line. The navy and pink accents are just fantastic, and the April kit is a wonderful blend of the new lines from Maggie Holmes, Amy Tangerine and Dear Lizzy.

Scrapbooksteals.com's How To-sday Create Your Own Embellishments

Make sure that you check out todays How To'sday over at the ScrapbookSteals.com Blog. It was created by yours truly! Here are a few sneaks both using Authentique's Strong Collection.

10 Minute Craft Dash... Creating Cards in No Time at All!

WOW. I have scrapped in 10 minutes before, and I thought that was hard. Making a card in 10 minutes that I actually wanted to use was even harder. You really don't want to see the first one I did. It had banners and fussy cutting, and marker. Not pretty. Created in under 10 minutes, but a total trainwreck. So... I went and looked at the challenge examples again (at PrettyPinkPosh) and kept it simple.

To make sure that I could stay within my 10 minutes, I first set out all of my supplies. Keeping everything close to hand made it easy to create without having to make too many decisions. 

See all of that stuff? Nope. Didn't use everything. I'm okay with that. Having it out gave me options. I went with what felt natural instead of forcing something that wasn't to be.

And just in case you were wondering... Here is my time left out of the 10 minutes. Seriously... It didn't even take 5 minutes!!! I can only credit that to a pre-folded card base, stamping directly onto the paper (a risk since I'm NOT a stamper... I credit some great stamping advice a few friends have given me lately), washi tape and embellishments that already have adhesive on them. The faux stitching was the most difficult and time consuming thing for the whole card.

Seriously FUN challenge. Really. I think I'm going to try it again. :)

March Layouts with Gossamer Blue

Just a couple of layouts to share today using my March Gossamer Blue kit. The first layout is a lift from one of the Gossamer Blue subscribers, Elmatt27. I just loved her layout, and for the Gossamer Blue Member Scraplift Challenge I wanted to use the bright colors and graphic feel that she had in her project. I used one of my Hipstamatic pics that was pretty blurry. It made for a perfect photo for this project though.

 

The second layout used the Elle's Studio Today paper on which I created a blackboard feel with the white gel pen title and some chalk ink. I then layered some bright colors with an Elle's Studio Summer Lovin' journaling box, some tags, and yellow washi.

Enjoy!

AUTHENTIQUE PAPER: Creating Easy Card Sets

Check out how to make this adorable set of cards on today's Authentique blog!!