Surf's UP!

Hello Peoples!! Are you ready for another week ahead?!  Today is going to be a real quick post as we are in the full swing of school now (and I have to work this am!!).  Thought I'd share a couple of projects that I worked on last week for the Home and School.

This year, the Home and School has decided to have a "Luau" or tropical theme for all the events and activities that are sponsored by the H&S.  I was asked to make the birthday cards for all the teachers and staff members of our little school that would be from the H&S members.  This is what I came up with:

This is a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card base of Gina K's pure luxury card stock. I used a scrap piece of paper to make a mask for my water line and sponged SU's Baja Breeze and Pacific Point for the water.  I then flipped the mask and randomly sponged some distress ink in Tumbled Glass for the sky, deliberately leaving some white areas as my "clouds".   I hand drew the surfboard template and traced it onto more pure luxury card stock and colored with copics.  I then stamped the red boards with element from SU's Delight in Life (retired) and Extreme elements using craft white ink.  The white board was stamped with the swirl from Delight in Life.  I then stamped the initials of the school using Papertrey's Trajan Monogram Edition.  I then used a THICK layer of glossy accents on each board to give it that waxed shine (this would be why the picture is slightly out of focus.  I could NOT for the life of me, get a decent picture that didn't have a glare on it!!).

The sand is pieces of torn Creamy Caramel (why did SU get rid of all their brown?!!) that had some direct to paper swipes with my Creamy Caramel ink pad.  I then used SU's Itty Bitty Backgrounds with Chocolate Chip ink to add the grains.  The surfboards were cut out and adhered in between the sand layers, leaving the tops of the boards slightly curved.  Squiggled the "sea gulls" and called 'er done!!

The next project is another paper project, just on a larger scale.  There is a 4'x6' bulletin board across from the school office that has been used as the teacher's "wish tree" in the past. It was sorely needing an update and this is what I came up with using only the paper rolls that the teacher's use to cover their bulletin boards:

Everything was hand drawn and cut out.  I used various inks (sorry, just grabbed a bunch and have NO idea which ones were actually used!) to add the shading to the water, sand, tree and leaves.  I still need to make the "coconuts" that the teachers will write their wishes on.  One thing that was difficult with this, is that I had to be careful not to get over three layers of paper per the fire department codes.  Shhhhh, I may have 4 in the sand area....but only in one spot!!

I'm off!!  Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I'll be back in a day or so with the cards that I'm designing for the new families "Welcome to our School"!!  Till then......make some time for creativity in your day!!

Nature's Bouquet

Ahhhhhhhh......It's finally Friday!! I am soooo ready for the weekend!!  I still have a couple of projects that I completed this past week to share with you, but not today!! Today is Just for Fun's Friday Color Challenge.  This week week we are challenging you to join in the fun with the following colors:

 I have to admit to you that this card went on a completely different path from where it started!!  I began with my favorite technique (who is going to take a guess?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?), the wrinkle free distress technique on a piece of very vanilla card stock with Distress ink in Peeled Paint, Fired Brick and Mustard Seed.  Instead of using water to bead up the inks, I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl.  I stamped Nature's Bouquet from JFF with Distress in in Black Soot and embossed with black embossing powder. I then distressed the edges with my distressing tool and sponged with Distress Antique Photo ink.  I got a little heavy handed with my distressing with the ink, so I went back and sponged some more Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint. I then once again spent WAAAAAAY too long trying to get my ribbon treatment to work with one of T!m Holtz's accoutrements buttons.  If anyone has the slightest idea how to attach a button to a bow, I would appreciate a "how to"!!  I finally resorted to using a piece of brushed gold wire to attach the button.  I rolled the ends of the wire to make a swirl flourish.

 I then punched a scrap piece of paper that had been misted with Tattered Angles Glimmer Mist Olive with one of Martha Stewart's punches (sorry.  This would be one of the punches I have NO idea what the name is).  I deliberately didn't punch to the end of the paper to give the punched image an outside border.  This was then mounted on a trimmed piece of my new pack of 7gypisies Market design paper (from the 6x 6 pad).  Everything was mounted on a piece of DCWV textured black card stock.  The final card size is 6x6.  Supplies:  Paper:  DCWV black, 7gypsies market, SU's very vanilla.  Stamps:  Just for Fun's Nature's Bouquet G3436.  Inks:  Distress inks in peeled paint, fired brick, mustard seed, black soot.  Accessories:  black embossing powder, Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in pearl and olive.  Ribbon, Tim Holtz's accoutrements buttons, wire, Martha Stewart punch. 

Make sure to stop by the other team member's blogs for some more inspiration and then join in the fun on the Just For Fun Blog!!

Beth Moore

Broni Holcombe

Roni Johnson

Glenda Brooks

Kat Tucker

Rita Ybarra

Sandy Sandrus

Terre Fry 

Thanks for dropping by again!!  I will be back with more projects over the weekend!  Until then......make time for some type of CREATIVITY today!!

Going to the Dark Side

Happy Hump Day, Peoples!!  Is it just me, or is time just zooming by and I'm not able to catch onto the tail end?!! HOLY MOLY!  I feel as if I've just been stuck at my desk crankin' out the goods for projects needed NOW. 

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a 10 y/o classmate of my youngest son. His b-day party was Saturday. Yes, I had to crank out another card the day after the other two sports cards!  I'm tellin' ya~~ the stress of it all!! LOL!!   The invitation was hand made by the mother of the birthday boy so that pretty much upped the ante on what my card had to be (that attitude is sooooo wrong for sooooo many reasons! LOL!!).  On the front of her card, she had used her Cricut to make a little boy, dressed as a Star Wars Storm trooper, holding onto his helmet.  I seriously thought about making my own Storm Trooper card, but somehow, the Dark Side got to me, hehe.

I Googled  "Star Wars cards" or "Storm Trooper cards" or something like that (who knows?!!) and came up with a link to Kristen's blog which showed both a Storm Trooper cake AND  a Darth Vader.  She even provided a link for the SVG file to make the Darth Vader.  Only one, itty, bitty little problem.  I don't own a electronic cutter!! So, back to Google I go and I find a picture of the exact layout and save it to my computer.  I then enlarged the image using my printer (as I have NO idea how to do it in Picassa!) and used it as a template to trace the white "card" section out of textured card stock.  I found this glittery black paper in one of my DCWV paper stacks.  I cut apart the larger dark portions on my template and traced it onto the back of my design paper.  I did the same for the mouth.  Then, I carefully cut out the white eye brows, the nose pieces, the lines and squiggles under the eyes and the mouth pieces and adhered them to the glitter paper (that would be why my mouth is off kilter.  Those little strips are TINY.  ITTY BITTY TINY.  Pain in the patootie to glue down!!)  I then managed to tape the black glitter outline too high on the white base.  By this time, I really don't care.  It is for a 10 y/o boy who will barely glance at it (but his mom saved it for the scrapbook! hehe). 

When all was said and done, the card fit in a square 6x6 envie. Me thinks this young Padawon didn't do to badly seeing as she was lacking her "light saber" (aka an electronic cutter!!) to do battle with this creation!!

I will be back in another day or so with MORE projects.  Seriously~~I will be lucky if I don't use up all my yearly creative allotment by the end of this week!! hehe

Thanks for dropping by again!  Thought for today:  Don't be afraid to explore creativity in different ways.  Despite what we think, we don't need to own every tool to make a "WOW" or personalized card.  We just need to be willing to explore different paths that will take us to our destination.

Till then..........................

Better Basketball (dot com!!)

Hey there Peoples!! I don't know about you, but my weekend just flew by me!!  I thought today I'd share the second card I made for the coach/teacher (the one that would be from our family) and a buddy of DS's who happened to share the same b-day!! I made both cards the same.  No time to be original!!

I actually CASED myself for this card.  Some of you may remember THIS card that I made a year ago.  Now, I really liked this card with the clear "backboard" but, there was one major  problem with it. The clear backboard does not allow for a gift card or signature to be added.  So I had made the basketball be the card portion.  All fine and dandy except that you have to have a gift card that FITS into that small space.  Seeing how my current gift cards were too big for said ball, I did some modification on the second go around:

The layout is exactly the same as the original card, but this time around I made the base out of Gina K's 120# pure luxury card stock.  I cut 1/4" strips of Basic Black card stock and made my main border.  The inside frame was made by nesting two of my classic rectangle Nestabilities from Spellbinders and cutting with my Big Shot.  The basketball is a Quikutz die. I cut the solid portion out of Tangerine Tango that I swiped with my Creamy Caramel ink pad.  I then used a sponge to deepen the shading along the bottom. The lines are cut out of Basic Black. 

 I decided that the solid backboard seemed to be missing something (besides the net, obviously!).  I pulled out SU's Just Basketball and stamped the Swish with Archival Jet black ink.  I didn't get a clear impression the first time and had my stampamajig slightly off kilter the second time, resulting in the more solid outline of the letters.  Nice thing, NO ONE but me (and now you!) will ever know I messed up!! Nice thing about it:  plenty of room to add a signature and a larger gift card! This was a pretty quick and easy card to throw together since all the designing had been done previously.  Sometimes, you just have to use a short cut!!  Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K pure luxury, SU basic black, tangerine tango.  Inks:  Archival jet black, creamy caramel.  Stamps:  SU's Just Basketball.  Accessories:  Spellbinders classic rectangles nestabilities, stampamajig. 

Thanks for stopping by again today!!  I will be back with some MORE projects that I've been working on in a day or so!!  Have a CREATIVE day!!  Till then...............

All Star Birthday

Hey Peoples!!  I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!! I finally found a moment to come up and breathe and thought I'd start sharing some of the goodies that I've been busy with!!

The kiddos started school on Thurs and I believe it was Tuesday evening when the Toad was looking at his schedule for a basketball PE class (he is one of the coaches) and saw that it listed the oldest kid's teacher (also, one of the coaches) having a birthday on FRIDAY.  Greaaaaaate.  So, called one of the other mom's in the class and set up a plan for a pizza party.  I got the cupcake and card duty.  Here is the card that I came up with:

I stamped the various sport equipment from  Melanie Muenchinger's Sporty Accessories using Archival Jet Black ink onto Gina K's 120# pure luxury white to spell out "ALL" and colored with various copics.  I know that there are those who list all the specific markers that they use when coloring.  That will never happen on this blog, I'm sorry to say.  I color like I create:  grab, try it, grab something else.  I have a color chart of all my copics and I look to see what colors I think I want to start with and then just keep grabbing until I get the look that I want.  There literally can be 20 markers out on my desk at one time.  Some used, some not.  And I can't remember which ones I grabbed for what!!

Anyhoos!! After coloring the main images, I cut out the football and adhered it over the hockey stick and golf club to finish off the  "A". Some light shading was done below and around the various equipment to keep them from floating in air.  I sponged a scrap piece of luxury paper with some Distress ink in Fired Brick and Vintage Photo.    I then used my Spellbinders Stars Five to cut and emboss the two different stars.  I sponged around the red star with some Riding Hood Red and matted them off center to give some depth to the "red" star.  I pulled out SU's retired "It's Your Birthday" and masked off one of the sentiments so that I just had the "birthday".  Using my every trusty stampamajig, I lined up the birthday and stamped using Archival Jet Black ink.  The main image was then matted on some Basic Black and Riding Hood Red.  The base is Pure Luxury cardstock and measures 5 x 5.   

Looking at the finished product, I realized that I matted slightly off kilter (I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the fact that I was literally working on a pile of stuff!!).  Oh WELL.  I did not have time to risk ruining the image by trying to tear the thing apart and re align!!

*************

As I mentioned earlier, I also had cupcake duty.  I don't know what came over me, but I got the idea to make some type of "gourmet" type cupcake (since, you know, I have sooooo much time on my hands to experiment!!).  I found a recipe for Pink Lemonade Cupcakes on Confections of a Foodie Bride blog, but since I was making cupcakes for a male teacher, I didn't think that going pink was the way to do it.  So, I got the idea to make Limeade Cupcakes.  Let's just say that these cupcakes are refreshing.  I know that I will be making more of these in the future!

Limeade Cupcakes

9 oz Limeade concentrate, thawed

White Cake mix (yes, it comes in a box)

3 egg whites (I used the stuff you can buy in a carton.  Too lazy to try and separate egg whites)

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

In a stand mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil and limeade concentrate.  Mix on low for about 30 seconds then increase to medium speed for about 90 seconds (make sure the batter is still a bit lumpy so you don't end up with dry cupcakes. My first batch was over mixed!!)

Spoon batter into cupcake liners that have been placed in a muffin tin.  The original recipe states to spray the liners with non-stick spray.  I did that for the first batch.  Skipped it for the second batch and my cupcakes turned out fine!  Fill cups between 2/3 and 3/4 full.  Bake at 350 for about 22-25 minutes (again~~my first batch, I over baked.  Go low and add time as needed!) or until a toothpick in the center cupcake comes out done.  Remove pan from oven and cool for about 5 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a baking rack.

Now~~the original recipe calls for a Lemon Buttercream Icing.  I did NOT like the buttercream with the Limeade.  It was waaaay too sweet.  Even my kids thought it was too sweet.  So, back to the computer and this is what I came up with:

Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting

1 (8 oz) package reduced -fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Lemon extract (the original recipe calls for almond extract.  I wanted the citrus zing)

2 cups heavy cream (I used whipping cream)

Chill a large mixing bowl and beaters.  Combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon extract in the chilled mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment.  Mix on medium speed until smooth.  While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the whipping cream.  Stop and scrape the bottom and sides of bowl a couple of times.  Continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with a couple of drops of desired food coloring in a food processor and mix until sugar is evenly colored.  Sprinkle over freshly iced cupcakes if desired.

Now, the whipped cream frosting is not like your regular frosting.  I think I could have whipped mine just a tad bit longer.  I would not use this recipe if the cupcakes are going to be sitting out for several hours (for a couple of reasons.  1) The whipped cream is likely to "fall"  2) The whipped cream is CREAM.  I'm not into having it spoil and someone getting food poisoning!!)

I wish I had a picture of the cupcakes. But, I did not have time to try and take a picture before I had to deliver the cupcakes and get myself to work.  Just take the recommendation of my 13 y/o son who said: "These look REALLY good" and later:  "The cupcakes tasted even better than they looked!" 

*********

I have a few more projects to share with you, but I'm going to spread them out over the next few days!! (ok, ok....kid is clammering for my computer as he has homework to do! Geesh!! Doesn't he know that I'm trying to blog here?!! hehe).  I appreciate you dropping by again!!  Let me know if you try the cupcakes and what you think of them!! 

Remember to find some creativity in your day!!  Till then.......

Tick Tock....Tick Tock

This pretty much sums up my life right now.  I don't even have time to post the Just for Fun Friday color challenge or link all the wonderful creations everyone else made for your inspiration.  I hope that you will check out the Just For Fun Blog for all the details. 

And with that I'm off and running again.  I have been working on some projects (last minute ones, of course!!) and I hope I can find maybe 5 minutes this weekend to post.

I really do appreciate the time you take to drop by to visit.  Trust me, the creative wheels have been turning, but that LIFE thing is getting in the way!!  I hope that you will find the time for some CREATIVITY in your weekend!!

Until I find my time.........

Going Plaid

Happy Friday, Peoples!!  I know it's been quite here this week, but I've been trying to go through my kid's closets and rid them of clothes that don't fit, reorganize, find desk tops and such before school starts next week. Sad thing, there is still lots more cleaning to go!!

On a more fun note, Friday means it's time for another Just For Fun Friday Color Challenge!!  This week we were challenged to use the following colors:

My first reaction was to go with some type of holiday card.  But in all honesty, I just couldn't.  I know that there are those of you who pride yourselves on having all your holiday cards made up by the end of October.  Personally, I think you are really missing out on the seasonal joy of trying to come up with a "WOW" design and mass produce 70+ cards on December 23.  Seriously, you don't know what you are missing!!  A craft area that cannot be walked through with discarded ideas.  The kitchen table hijacked for mass production.  The wonderful holiday "LOOK" that is bestowed upon anyone who dares to ask if there is going to be dinner sometime in the near future.  I highly recommend giving it a try this year!!

So, with that rebellious thought, I started looking through my goodies to see what inspired me.  I came across my stash of "let's see what this would look like" alcohol ink plaid.  And I took the leap from that to this:

I wish I could tell you exactly what alcohol inks were used in the making of this, but this was made last holiday season during T!m Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas on Day 3.  I made so many different plaid backgrounds that day and never once thought to write on the back of the card stock as to what inks I was using!!  I think it was fate that I had a background that had the colors that were needed for today!!  I stamped the ornamental dress form image from Just For Fun® Stamps onto the background using Archival Jet Black ink.  At the last minute, I decided to emboss the image and lucky for me, the ink was still wet when I poured on the black embossing powder.  I carefully heated  the powder so that I would not melt the coating on the glossy paper. 

I then decided to use the sketch challenge this week on SCS for my layout.  I flipped the layout for giggles. This is a large image so my card base, made from Gina K's vanilla pure luxury paper, is approximately 6"x 4 1/4".  I made the "designer paper" with CHF's (no longer in business) scrapblock Vintage Text.  I stamped the block onto a piece of vanilla cardstock with Scattered Straw Distress ink.  I then laid T!m Holtz's Flourish mask over the top and spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Old Lace.  The flourish was barely seen so I then lightly sponged more Scattered Straw over the mask and stamping until I had a depth of the flourish that I wanted.  This was then layered on a slightly larger Basic Black and Purely Pomegranate mats.  I use the ticket corner punch on my main image and matted that on a slightly larger Basic Black mat.  My finishing touches was the clear buttons that I added along the side.  I first punched out 3/4" black cardstock circles and cut them in half to highlight the buttons in an alternating pattern along the edge.  The buttons were adhered using glossy accents.  The ribbon is from Target, bought before they revamped their wedding section.  The bow is adhered with glue dots (and I will spare you how long it took me to get the stupid thing to look half way decent!!).  Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K's pure luxury vanilla, very vanilla, purely pomegranate, basic black and glossy cardstock.  Stamps:  Just for Fun Ornamental Dress Form, CHF's Vintage Text scrapblock.  Inks:  Archival Jet Black, Distress Scattered Straw, alcohol inks.  Other:  Black embossing powder, 3/4" circle punch, glossy accents, ribbon.

I'm so thankful you dropped by again today!!  I hope that you will check out the other design team's inspiration pieces and then play along with us on the Just For Fun Blog!!  You could be the lucky winner of a $50 gift certificate (and you don't even have to use Just for Fun Stamps!!) 

Broni

Beth

Roni

Rita

Kat

Terre

Sherry

Sandy

Glenda (a maybe as she has fresh garden goodies that need to be tended too!!)

Thanks again for dropping by!! I hope that you take time for some type of CREATIVITY in your weekend!!

The Journey

Happy Monday Peoples!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!  Today I'm sharing a project that I actually made LAST weekend but never had the chance to upload.

While posting these  pictures of the Grand Canyon, I remembered an idea that I have had stored in the recesses of my noggin for over a year and decided to try and finally see if I could put it to paper.  Now, my original idea was  do a mix media project on canvas.   That may still happen, but for this project, I went a different route with results that I just love!!

Let me just say that I am just tickled at how this turned out!!  I started with the melted crayon background technique on glossy card stock. The cool thing about this technique is that you can keep remelting the crayon until you get a look or texture that you like.  Wellll.....within reason!  LOL!! You can muddy up your colors if you drag over them too much!  I used mostly white with a touch of light blue for the sky and some brown, red, apricot, green (and who knows what else I grabbed!) for the "canyon". 

I wanted this to have more dimension so I stamped the Indian from Rubbernecker Stamps  on a folded piece of transparency with Archival Jet Black ink using my stampamajig so that I could place him where I wanted on my edge of the "canyon".    Sorry, I could not find the image on the site.  I don't know if it is no longer sold.  I colored the back side of the image with copics, letting the layers of color dry between so that I could add some slight shading.  Using the alcohol based copics on the transparency is not like coloring on paper.  You will start to pull off color if you try to "work" it too much while it is wet.  I added just a tad bit more shading beneath the horse than the image has to give it a more realistic look. 

I thought I had been clever stamping the Indian on the folded piece of transparency.  My thought was that I would adhere the transparency layer between the main image panel and the card base.  Welllll, the "front" flap did just that~~FLAP.  It did NOT lie flat, which totally ruined my scene of the Indian on the Canyon edge.  I tried to use a bit of clear drying glue just barely along the edges.  NOPE.  I finally used some spray adhesive that I had and lucky for me, it did NOT smear the alcohol inks and worked to adhere the transparency to the background.

I then stamped the pine tree from SU's Lovely as a Tree with Archival Jet Black ink on the front of the transparency to create more of a balanced look to the scene.  I will admit I was TERRIFIED that I would ruin my scene with this last step, but I think it was just what was needed! Supplies:  Paper:  Glossy card stock, SU's Close to Cocoa.  Stamps:  Rubbernecker (Indian) and SU's Lovely as a Tree.  Inks:  Archival Jet Black, Copic Ciaos.  Accessories:  transparency, spray adhesive, crayons, craft iron, stampamajig. 

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I hope that you will run with the lesson that I learned from this project:  Inspiration is EVERYWHERE around us.  But if you just lock away the inspiration instead of beginning the journey of exploring the possibilities of creativity  that the inspiration can bring, then the "view" becomes just a forgotten picture in the mind.

Have a CREATIVE day! Till next time~~

Make a Mess!! Be Merry!!

Happy Friday Peoples!! Whew!! This week has flown by and I don't know how much I really have to show for it~~I still have errands to run to finalize getting my kids ready for school, even though it seems I've been all over Southern California.  My house is still a mess.  There are loads of laundry still waiting to visit the washer.  LOL!! Such is my life!!

BUT!! It's FRIDAY and that means it is time for another Just For Fun Friday Color Challenge.  This week we are challenged to use the following colors:

My first thought when I saw these colors was Christmas.  I decided to channel my inner T!m Holtz and do a folk art/distressed look.  Wellllll..........my inner T!m must be on vacation because all I got was this:

Actually, this picture does not show the entire mess made.  I spent most of Wednesday night trying to unclog my Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist.  Of which the pump decided to expel DARK RED glimmer all over my bathroom.  I'm talking mirror, tile and MY LIGHT COLORED SHOWER CURTAIN.  I managed to get it all cleaned with some rubbing alcohol, but of course, my shower curtain.  It still has lovely splatters of what looks like blood.  Niiiiice.  Good or bad, this occurred in the office/guest bathroom.  Since our only guests tend to be teen age boys, I'm hoping they'll find my soon to be embellished story of the "blood" thrilling!

After the discouragement of my failure to be T!m, I went a in a different direction.  CLEAN AND SIMPLE. 

I started with the FTL101 on the clean and simple blog. 

And here is my take on it:

(Yes, it was late when this photo was taken.  Which means no true colors!)

I started with a base of Gina K's pure luxury card stock in white.  Another layer of white was used to add some dimension.  I then embossed some Riding Hood Red from SU with a snowflake embossing folder from Cuttlebug.  I swiped some white craft ink over the raised images.  This was matted on a piece of Kraft card stock. I stamped the sentiment from this unmounted sheet of sentiments from Just For Fun Stamps and made my "flag".   I then stamped and colored this cute candy cane from Just for Fun Stamps and covered it with glossy accents.  OH WAIT!!  The candy cane did not make the cut on the card!! Some how my card took on a different feel and the candy cane no longer fit the "look".  I pulled out my Create a Flake 1 dies from Spellbinders (no longer available. Create a Flake 2 still is!) and cute the layers from pure luxury white and kraft.  I then embossed and sponged the embossed areas using Riding Hood Red ink.  The layers were put together using rolled glue dots and dimensionals.  I then layered on some glossy accents and sprinkled Glitter Art shards glass glitter over the layers.  The snowflake was then adhered with dimensionals as was the sentiment flag. 

Not a whole lot of stamping, but I like how this turned out!! If I could figure a good way to mail this with the snowflake, this would be my Christmas cards for this year!!

Make sure you drop by all the other design team's blogs to see what inspiration they have for you!! Remember, if you play along with us on the Just For Fun blog, you have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate!!

Beth Moore

Glenda Brooks

Roni Johnson

Kat Tucker

Terre Fry

Sandy Sandrus

Broni Holcombe

Sherry Cheever

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I'm going to tackle the mess made on my desk and see if I can't find some other creativity to channel!!  Have a CREATIVE weekend!!

Music For Dawn

Happy Hump Day Peoples!!  I've been running around the last couple of days all over Southern California trying to get my kids ready for school (ok....slight exaggeration, but not by much!!).  I will spare you the details of shopping with two boys ages 13 and 10 (insert MAJOR eye rolling here___________)!!

Despite all the running around, I have managed to find some time to be creative.  I have a project that I have had brewing in my head for ages and finally got to paper.  BUT!! You are going to have to wait for that goodie!  Today is sketch day on SCS and I just had to do it as the featured sketch came from my long time cyber friend Dawn!!  Dawn's birthday was yesterday also, and it was just another push for me to make something to celebrate her day!!  Here is the sketch :

And here is my take on it:

I started with the background piece by doing the wrinkle free distress technique using Distress inks in Antique Linen and Tumbled Glass.  Instead of spritzing with water, I spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Old Lace.  I then stamped the Aged Sheet Music scrapblock from Cornish Heritage Farms with Distress Bundled Sage.  I distressed the edges and sponged with Distress Vintage Photo.  I'm sorry to say that CHF is closing and this stamp is no longer available!

My main image, Music Men, is from Just for Fun Stamps®.  I stamped the image first in Antique Linen then randomly stamped over it with Distress Tumbled Glass.  The Tumbled Glass over the Linen  changed the color tone to more of a sage, which then became my accent color.  After distressing the edges and sponging with Vintage Photo, I mounted it on a piece of SU's Sage Shadow card stock that had been punched with one of Martha Stewart's punches (sorry, never marked this punch as to it's name!) and sponged along the edges with some Bundled Sage and then Vintage Photo.  I will spare you the details of how many attempts it took to get the correct sized paper for my punching!! (geesh.....)

I made it easy on myself  as far as the flags went.  I printed out the sketch and cut out the flags from some retired SU design paper.  To make them more sturdy, I backed them onto some very vanilla card stock. The edges were all sponged with Vintage Photo.   I then used T!m Holtz's Music Mask and went over it with Bundled Sage, a bit of Tumbled Glass and Vintage Photo (nothing like totally changing the the original color of the dp!! hehe).  The brads were placed and the entire card was adhered to a piece of Gina K's pure luxury card stock in vanilla.  Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K pure luxury in vanilla.  SU vanilla, sage shadow and retired SU dp.  Inks:  Distress inks in tumbled glass, antique linen, bundled sage and vintage photo.  Stamps:  CHF  aged music sheet scrapblock and JFF music men.  Accessories:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in old lace, brads.

Thanks for stopping by again today!! Remember to take the time for some type of creativity in your day!!

'Till then......

Exploring the Past

Hey Peoples!!  Bet you all thought I fell off the face of the earth (again!!).  It just amazes me how time really does fly!!

I don't have a card for today (I know, I know, whats new!!) but instead, I thought I would share some photos that my oldest son (age 13) and I took while exploring the Flagstaff, AZ area last week.

We went to Flagstaff so that I could take a continuing education course on Whole Body Kinesiology Therapeutic Taping.  This is the taping that could be seen being worn by some of the Olympians, such as Kerri Walsh, during these past games.  It is amazing how this stuff works!!

Anyhoos!! I digress!!  While I was in class on Saturday and Sunday, the rest of my family did some exploring without me (go figure!).  On Saturday, they went to the Lowell Observatory and came back with quite the fascination on how much work went into tracking planets.  Sorry, no pictures of the telescopes as all three of the boys (that would include the Toad) forgot their cameras!

The next morning they did some hiking in Walnut Canyon to see some 12th century Sinagua cliff dwellings.  These pictures were taken by my son with a Nikon coolpix2100 (point and shoot).  I think you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

(the barely black lettering points to where the dwellings are)

close up shot of one of the rooms

There are two hikes to these dwellings, a steep trail and a less strenuous Rim Trail.  These photos were taken from the steep trail.

The boys then spent their afternoon at an arboretum for a birds of prey presentation.  Again, these next photos were taken by my son with his point and shoot Nikon.

I find it totally amazing how this owl is camouflaged against the tree!!

Love this shot!!

(mom playing around with some filtering in Picassa!)

Monday was the day we saved for the Grand Canyon.  Since my family has "seen" this monument a few times, we decided to view it from a hikers standpoint.  Great day for it.  Some grey clouds overhead, but looked about the same as the previous two days.  OH NO.  BUCKETS OF RAIN.  WIND.  LIGHTENING and THUNDER that shook the truck.  There was NO hiking!!  We resigned ourselves to just driving further east along the rim and the rain let up enough to take in some views from the scenic outlets.  But COOOOLD!!  It was still windy and the temps were in the upper 40's/low 50's.  Despite my uncontrollable shaking, the overcast skies made for some great pictures! Again, the photos were taken with the Nikon.

That patch of green would be the Colorado River on the Canyon Floor

We continued on to the Wapatki National Monument that includes 12th century Wapatki Pueblo, a 100 room ruin, which is the largest of the monument's ruins. 

Believe it or not, at one point, the first Ranger and his wife to this area lived in one of the upstairs rooms in this ruin!!  He would haul water up to fill a tank.  They used a ladder to reach their two rooms!  It just amazed me that there was no thought at that time to the fragility of this structure!

My three "boys" in one of the rooms that you were allowed to stand in (this is actually one of the rooms that you can see were the second floor to the structure would have been.  Come to think of it, it was pretty close to where the Ranger's living quarters were!)  *The black tape on the Toad's arm is the kinesio taping that I learned over the weekend!

This was an interesting natural underground "vent".  Depending on the time of year, either warm or cool air flows up out of the ground from this "blow hole".  My youngest is standing over it to show how the air was enough to billow his clothes!

Finally, our parting shot of the area would be of the lava from the volcano whose name is no where in my brain right now!!

It was a quick trip, but rated a "great" one by the boys! (which, when it is all said and done, is all that matters!)

Since our return home, I've been busy trying to find my house and do all the running around that is needed to get the boys ready to head back to school in a couple of weeks. I did manage to clean up my creative area and am hoping to get some play time in this week between errands and chores (errands will get done, the house chores just might get put on hold for some "me" time! hehe!!).

I hope you enjoyed a little different creativity with the photographs.  In years past (college), I took a basic photography class and realized that I kinda miss that type of creativity.  Who knows?!  You may see more "artistic exploring" of this creative medium in the future!

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Remember:  Creativity comes in many different mediums.  Pull one out and have some fun!!