Freedom

Just a little ring that I made to wear this Saturday. What are you doing for the fourth?

Paper & Rubons: Fancy Pants Designs

Clear Fragment Tiles: Tim Holtz

Ring Base: Unknown

Other: Vintage Dictionary Script

Create Well: Use a holiday to move your imagination!

Evans Photography - Garden Tour Photo Album

My mother-in-law and I always go to the local Garden Tour in Stayton. This year beat the last two years by a landslide! I was in heaven! Here are my favorite pictures from the tour.

Create Well: I found this quote, "Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination." ~Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

Walk By Faith

I was excited to hear from Chelsea that she posted a layout with some of One Bright Spot's product on her blog. I love the layout! It is beautiful!

Chelsea used both our Discover tag and A Little Touch of Red Pin.

I love how Chelsea stitches her pieces on her pages. She almost makes her layouts look like a beautiful pieced together quilt. Her photo of her daughter walking away from her is just darling. Some of my favorite photos of my son are those of him walking with his daddy and running ahead of me. It does make them seem as if they are growing up so fast.

Create Well: Photograph your subject from behind. Use that photograph to begin your journaling for that page.

Photos used with permission.

Made For You

Here is my third and last June assignment for Craft Warehouse. It actually took about a week for me to make this card. LOL! I am not much of a card person. I leave that for my sister Becca. But, I really wanted to stitch these Little Monsters from Daisy Bucket Designs. Unfortunately, the first time I stamped the monsters I did one upside down without realizing it until I finished one and began the next! LOL! Anyway, in the end, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

I actually began this project with the stitching and not sketching the design until I was finished. For this project my card turned out exactly like the sketch.

I stamped the image, poked holes with my paper piercer, and stitched away. I haven't done something like this since elementary school!

I machine stitched the letters from American Crafts.

Paper & Cardstock: Daisy Bucket Designs & Bazzill Basics
Stickers: Bazzill Basics & America Crafts
Ink: Color Box & Stazon
Other: Thread

Create Well: If you do not succeed the first time, try again.

Rise & Shine

Here is my second assignment for Craft Warehouse this month. It was created with KI Memories product. I picked all the colors for this layout because I was out of white thread in my machine. I made my sketch and knew I needed to stitch this layout. So, I picked this photo to match the yellow thread. I then painted the accents to match. Who knew you could get inspired by a spool of yellow sewing thread?

Before I began, I created my own paint by adding a scoop of Luminarte pigment powders to a squirt bottle, added water, and shook it up. I then masked a part of the page with paper and sprayed away!

I painted the white glitter lace yellow to match the layout. It's nice because you can still see the glitter on the paper even though it's painted over.

I loved stitching with this yellow thread. Stitching over this chipboard was a little harder than other Thickers, but I just went really slow with the machine.

Paper, Glitter Lace, Alphabets & Rubons: KI Memories

Pink Ribbon: Fancy Pants Designs

Cardstock & Chipboard: Bazzill Basics

Glittered Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts

Paint & Distressing Tool: Making Memories

Other: Luminarte pigment powder, thread, & Mcgill fancy square punch

Create Well: Try using a new color thread on your page and making a statement with it.

One Bright Spot at Scarlet Lime

I was super excited to read Scarlet Lime's June newsletter today! Amanda Gibson's layout was featured. One Bright Spot's Discover tags was used on her layout. Amanda's design is fresh, colorful, and she really used that red to make a statement!
Check it out!

Create Well: Be inspired by other artists. Browse galleries for new fresh ideas.

P&P Rings

I was inspired just by going into my favorite craft store. All I had to do is just look at Tim Holtz's framents and saw collage rings. I watched this demo to really understand what the fragments were designed for. I then took a scrap of paper about 8 inches and altered it using Distress Inks. I then cut script from Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice and added it to the paper. I really would love to do a tutorial of these soon. They are so fun and you can really use up your scraps for something that would make a great gift (or hey, even for yourself)!

Create Well: Be inspired by walking the aisles of your craft store. Just looking at the product may give you a great idea!

Evans Photography - Marion Lake

I was finally able to get my little hands on the Marion Lake photos that my husband took when he was away two weekends ago. I was surprised to even see some photos of him in there. Last time he went he forgot to get photos of himself. My favorite photos were these. I just had to share!

Create Well: Go away, relax, and enjoy God's creation. Remember to bring your camera and get pictures of yourself on your trip too!

In Color

This is one of this month's assignments for Craft Warehouse. I stepped out of the box a bit and tried several new things on this project I have never tried before. This chalkboard was created with items from Daisy Bucket Designs's and their new Jumbo Scallop Banner.



This huge piece of chipboard was first cut down to 19 inches. I put a layer of gesso on the chipboard so that the surface would be ready to paint on. I then added the paintable chalk paint (not the spray can) according to the product's instructions. To speed up drying time I used my heat gun. The directions say to rub chalk all over the surface to prepare it for use and then wipe it off. I actually love the look that it gave piece. When it hangs on the wall it really looks like a chalkboard.

I added the patterned paper from the My Little Monster line and placed my photos on top. I then cut this cute bracket chipboard and painted it with acrylic paint. Afterwards, I added this adorable stamp and the rubons from the My Little Monster line.

I wanted American Craft's Thickers to match my layout and so I painted the ones I already had to match the paper exactly. I used the glittered alphabet so that the new colors would all sparkle the same as if it was the original color. I love this technique! It helps my stash of alphabets stretch farther.

I then hand cut stars and glued them on the chalkboard. I ran the chipboard through the sewing machine (I didn't even have to change any settings! I just ran it slow and the machine had no problem with this size chipboard at all).

I purchased a set of bistro chalk markers for this project specifically. I was a little scared to use it on my piece without knowing how it would turn out, so I tested them on paper first. Oh my! I loved them! I am really going to begin to use these on my layouts more often. Of course, since they are chalk they smear. But, just like any chalk product if you used it on a layout or piece of art you would just need to spray it with an acrylic sealer if you wanted it to be permanent.

What I realized when testing them is that they smear when on paper but don't on the chipboard. The bistro markers are suppose to be wiped off with a damp cloth. It wiped off the chipboard but you could still see a mark where the word was. But, I did test regular chalk on it and it wiped off just fine. So, this project could be easily scrap-lifted and made into a chalkboard for your grocery list, to-do list using regular chalk. But you just can't beat the bright bistro chalk colors, so for this piece I am using the acrylic sealer.

Create Well: Step out of the box and try something new! A little scared? Try it on a smaller project, like a card, to see what you think. You might find a new product that you can't live without!

Guest Designer - Noel Culbertson

This week's designer is the amazing Noel Culbertson! She has a great eye for design and color. Most of all she stands out to me as a woman who lives to love her husband and two beautiful girls. She captures those beautiful everyday moments and documents them in a way that inspires! Here's what she had to say:

Hey everyone! I am Noel Culbertson. I am the wife of my very own US Navy hero. I am a mom of (in my opinion) the two sweetest shoulda-been-twin girls on the planet. I am a scrapbooker. With so much scrappin' ammo, it's no wonder I ended up head over heals in love with this hobby.
Why do I say shoulda-been-twin girls? Only because I have two girls, 18 months apart, that is the same height, weight, clothes size, shoe size and look a lot alike. Oh, that and I dress them alike. (Hey, they've gotta have something to tell the therapist later on!) I figure my days are numbered on the matching, so I'm just milking it while I still can. My true life inspiration, though, is my husband. I'm telling you girls, I am lucky enough to be married to the certifiably best man ever. I'm not sure what I've ever done to deserve such a great guy, but it must have won some big points somewhere! It is amazing how being truly loved makes for a fantastic creative environment. And when my husband deploys, I have some extra late night hours available for scrapping & making cards to send off to him.

What's so great about scrapbooking? (Seriously, what's not great about it, right? LOL.) I'll tell you what I think is pretty darn great, anyway. Scapbooking is one of those hobbies that's like 10 hobbies rolled into one. And when it comes right down to it that means a lot of shopping opportunities. But really, the daily draw is that it pulls all of the things that I love dearly together... Experiencing daily moments with my family and focusing on each of those little blessing that may have otherwise slipped by. Keeping a camera always at my side to memorialize those little moments. Sitting down and reminiscing over the photos from the days, weeks, months and years before. Then digging into my treasure chest of supplies to let loose the creative beast inside. Ha! That sounds a little less like a hobby and more like a lifestyle.

My scrapping style seems to be an ever changing flow of whatever is inspiring me at the moment. I'm not much of a pre-planner, so I usually just shop for supplies that grab my attention to have on hand when the juices are flowing. The one thing I always do with my scrapbooking is start with the pictures. Lately I've been doing most of my printing at home, which has seemed to mesh well with my procrastination tendencies. I can sit down at my computer in my scrap room, browse through the recorded little moments, and choose the one that jumps out at me. From there, the pictures (and my mood) determine the colors and flow of a page. If I were to describe my current style I'd say clean lines, with layered patterns and captivating pictures. I, admittedly, have a bit of a hard time making a layout without any flourishes or swirls attached. I am however, slowly working on this obsession.

The fabulous thing about designing layouts is that the world around us is filled with inspiration. Ever buy a magazine JUST for the ads? I have. Companies spend millions hiring amazing designers from all over the world to create beautifully simple and captivating ads. Why not, um, borrow their talent and make it our own? Everything from typography to titles, from color scheme to layout ads are a constant source of inspiration to me. I keep a three ring binder full of torn out ads and articles. I have the notebook divided into tabbed sections titled Color, Layout and Quotes. So the "quotes" title isn't the best, but I was using my Dymo label maker, and journaling was just too long to fit on the tab. It's a speedy way to keep and access ideas quickly. I even have hole punched clothing tags and postcards to add to the notebook. One of my favorite picks from the inspiration notebook is one of writing letters for your kids. It was an article where people wrote letters to their kids for different life moments (i.e. the first time your heart is broken, etc). I haven't started mine yet, but I've got a minibook of letters planned out in my mind. My pages seem to be a contently changing love affair with new color combinations. Right now I'm hooked on brown, bright pink and teal as well white, yellow and gray. I'm sure that all of this sunshiny weather we've been having is aiding in my love of summery colors lately.

Procrastination and compulsive picture taking has lead to a wonderful ah-ha moment for me... I do NOT have to scrap every picture. It's a darn good thing too because with well over 100 grand floating around on my hard drives, I'd be scrapping pictures until the cows came home. But another big part of my process is not scrapping in order. How does out-of-order equal any sort of process, you say? That's the beauty of it. For me, not being bound to a schedule or timeline helps the creative juices flow more freely. Plus it relieves the huge burden of being so overwhelmingly behind why should I even start? My kids each had a baby scrapbook of their first two months of life in order... after that my freedom scrappin' went into effect. Now they flip through books with pictures out of order, and they remember the little moments. They laugh, and say, "Awe, how cute is that?" without a "Why aren't these pages in order?" in sight. Ahhhh, sweet freedom!

Check out Noel at her blog, Paper, Passion, and Pixel Mania.

Create Well: Remember to experience those daily moments with your family and focus on each of those little blessings that may have otherwise slipped by. Keep a camera always at your side to memorialize those little moments. Then, don't let your memories sit on a shelf collecting dust! Sit down and reminisce over the photos from the days, weeks, months and years before.

Craft Warehouse Assignement Number 2

I was so excited this week! I was anxiously waiting for Craft Warehouse's second package. When it arrived I was surprised to see all the goodies we got! Some of our prize items were in this package as well, including the tools you see in the picture. The other items I am totally excited to work with. I was so inspired that I have already begun my first project. I am looking forward to sharing it with you soon.


Create Well: Doesn't new product always inspire us to create well?!