Create Your Day...

Good Morning to all you lovely people!  I am a Morning Person... I wake up happy and cheerful (and EARLY!) most of the time and when the birds are singing and the sun is shining I FEEL GOOD!  I also am kind of a Pollyanna- always trying to find the good in a situation because I truly believe that WE "Create Our Day" because it's all in your perspective... and I try to practice what I preach... I created this Cheerful and Happy little piece for the "My Sweet Earth"blog post today using Susan K. Weckesser's "Create Your Day" stamp set by Unity Stamps, a felting technique and some embroidery floss...what a cool new way to use my stamps!  

I have never felted before (although I have had the stuff in my closet for about five years (grin) picked up on a holiday in Prince Edward Island and just waiting for the perfect moment to be retrieved) and it was REALLY easy.  But I used very small images and I would recommend starting with something a little larger if you don't want YOUR "blue bird" to look like a fish with legs (grin).

Felting is a pretty simple technique and requires very few tools... some felt, a felting needle and some raw dyed wool (called Roving) that looks and feels like a mound of colored cotton balls, oh yeah and some kind of foam under your work that the needle can be jabbed into (I used an old piece of styrofoam). 

That's it... you just jab the wool into the felt and fill in each area until it is as flat or puffy, dark or light, thick or thin as you would like it.   

I started by stamping my images onto a 4x4 square of felt that I picked up in a local store for fifty cents and it accepted the stamped images beautifully. 

You can shade, you can pull out mistakes, you can cover up stuff... it is really, really fun and there are lots of "how to's" on the web... 

I wanted my images to pop a little more so I outlined them using different colored embroidery floss.  

And I just used a pen to write my words in and then stiched over them with floss.  I added a stiched border also to finish off the project and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out... 

Here is a second piece I created using some of my Donna Downey flower stamps by Unity Stamp Co.  I really went to town with the creative stitching on this one.  Now I want to add some kind of word... and probably a border and then it will be finished...

Thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to this week... now GO and Create something Lovely with your day! (and leave me a comment if you like before you do!)

Scrapbook Lynne

A Salute to Bo Bunny!

I LOVE Bo Bunny products!  I Love EVERYTHING about them!  They always seem to come out with another perfect paper line to fill a paper "gap" just when I need it.  I realized the other day that I love their paper sooo much that I have NOT been using it but have been Hoarding it... keeping it for that "perfect project" .... which is a really good way to NOT use something until it's dated.... So I pulled out all my Bo Bunny this weekend and created a few more projects, embellished a couple of older things and I made some plans for making many, many more items using my Bo Bunny lines.  So without further ADO... Here is MY salute to another amazing scrapbooking company.. BO BUNNY!

Using the Garielle Paper Line for my Wedding Album

Gabrielle Again... I LOVE those butterflies! (and fussy cutting)

You can see the detail here!

With Three Grandsons  this paper line called Blast Off is getting a workout! I soooo wish I had more!

I have been HOARDING this paper from the Zoology line.. time to USE IT!

This is the Learning Curve Line... and Grandson #1

This summer line called Barefoot still makes me giddy!

 

I used two different paper lines for this desk clock - Enchanted, an elegant black and white line and Forever Fall because the colors matched my wedding bouquet perfectly!

Dean got this for Father's Day!

Well That's it for today... but if YOU have been hoarding some product because it is just TOO BEAUTIFUL to use... pull it out, blow off the dust, and USE IT!  Grin

Drunken Stampers Challenge #132..."Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or RABBITS!

http://drunkenstampers.wordpress.com/

It's time to go outside the box and make something just a little different...the Drunken Stamper's challenge for this week is the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or RABBITS!  Just make a card using either or both of these themes, take a photo and post it to your blog and then attach your blog post to the Drunken Stampers Lounge using our Linky Tool... That's It!  You will be entering to win the coveted "Life of the Party" Blinky for your blog! Come ON, join in the fun... you have until this Friday to play!

I found these Harmonie papers hidden away in my stash.... What a GREAT Canadian company they were - I am gonna MISS THEM SO MUCH!

Now, it turns out that the ONE thing I don't own (GASP!) is a rabbit stamp (grin), but I found both the images I used on these cards on-line at a site called FREE Vintage Digital Stamps (yes there are STILL free sites out there!) and their stuff is so amazing that I have put a link here in this post AND on my blog!  check them out!!  ANYWAY.... here are the two cards I created for this challenge.. and it was really fun.... come and PLAAAAY! (grin)

Doesn't he look just so  mischievious?

Thanks for stopping by (hopping by?)... (grin)... now leave me some blog "love" in the form of a comment ... I do LOVE hearing from you!

Scrapbook Lynne

Some Graphic 45 Goodness!

This entire layout is made from PAPER... and some letter stickers (and some liquid glass!)

I just had to share this circle journal page I just completed and mailed away (sad sigh).  I'm happy for the recipient but sad for me that I had to send it away.... 

I LOVE to fussy cut... and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Graphic 45 papers!   I can do stuff with their product that I just cannot do with anyone else's!  Their papers are my GO TO product for any really special cards I have to make, but I have not really used it on my layouts until this year....

For this circle journal project the author requested something travel related and since she has been out of the scrapping world for three years, she asked us to please use a new technique or product... so I scrapped two 8"x8" pages of my week in Honolulu on the Crop and Cruise Hawaiian Vacation using Graphic 45's Tropical line.... 

I love fussy cutting lots of pieces and the re-layering them using pop dots of different heights and bending some of the images to give them even more dimension.

and I really like to add little, almost hidden elements so see who notices them.... (like this lizard)

And of course... because it's me... the final touch is some liquid glass and stickles to emphasize those elements! 

 

From this angle you can get an idea of the dimension and layers

This is me saying..... "What Happens in Hawaii (when you are here for a week without your husband)... STAYS IN HAWAII!!" Grin

Thanks for stopping by... I'd love to hear what you thought if you want to leave a comment...SMILE.

"Sing Your Song" - Two Mixed Media Canvases

HAPPEEE MONDAY EVERYONE!!  This week I have dipped my toe into the world of mixed-media and I want to share with you two canvases that I created for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post.  This "Sing Your Song" stamp really spoke to me as I am on my own journey to find my ART voice and let it sing, but have you noticed that we are our own WORST critics?  I find mixed media intimidating - the few times I have tried it I have ended up with a mess of dark and muddy colors that I just don't like.  But my mantra for this year is "JUST DO IT!" and I wanted to give mixed-media another chance with my "inner critic" turned off  and I am so glad I did because just look what happened when I followed my Inner Artist voice...Grin.  Before I get started I want to share two things about the process that have helped me: #1... TRUST YOUR INNER VOICE and #2 If you don't like it - just add another layer!  NO really.... it totally works, especially if you let the layers dry first!

To get started I pulled out some very inexpensive dollar store canvases and literally just THREW paint on them - that really helped to break through my block and away I went.  

For  my first canvas I used a baby blue acrylic paint for the background and then mod podged strips of Tim Holtz tissue wrap right over top.  The tissue wrap goes almost transparent so the color still shows through, but unlike tissue paper it can stand up to paint and mod podge without falling apart. 

After the mod podge had dried I arranged the pieces of my image on the canvas.  I always stamp and color my image multiple times so I can layer and pop and dimensionalize to my hearts content and I love to fussy cut so I cut out a lot of pieces.  I  used foam pop dots under some pieces but glued others right to the canvas to give the entire piece some dimension.

At this point I found the blue background a little overpowering so I applied some orange paint around the edges with my finger.  Since I was applying the paint over a dried mod podged surface it was easy to rub off the paint, even if it had already dried, until I had just the right amount of background peaking through. 

The perfectly stamped sentiment was easy to apply because I stamped it first on a piece of white tissue paper and then cut it out and mod podged it to the canvas... NOTE:  Use a waterproof ink like Archival for your stamping or the ink will run when you apply the mod podge.  After I had everything arranged and glued down I applied one more layer of mod podge to the entire canvas and let it dry completely.  Finally, I like to add some doodling using either a sharpie  or one of my copic liners since they both have a waterproof ink and can write on any surface, for me that really finishes off the piece. 

Now for this second canvas I used all the same steps and most of the same products with is a few differences.  First I applied blue acrylic paint to my canvas using some bubble wrap and after it had dried I sprayed the entire piece with yellow and orange Dylusion sprays to quickly create this vibrant background.  

I again used mod podge to add strips of tissue wrap, and this time I colored and cut out my stamped image three times because I wanted to create a much larger tree trunk.  I used glue, pop dots and mod podge to reassemble my stamped image on the canvas.

I again stamped my sentiment on tissue paper and  mod podged it to the canvas, but because my background was so bright and busy I created a "bubble" - applying white acrylic paint with my finger - so the stamped sentiment would stand out more clearly when I mod podged it onto the canvas.

 

Again some doodled lines along with some sparkle using my stickles added those last finishing touches and I would absolutely hang this on my wall!   So this week I challenge you to go and play with your favorite stamp with the "inner critic" turned off and see what happens!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week and I would Love to hear from you if you want to leave me a comment...

Scrapbook Lynne (grin)

My ART Journey...

It feels like FOREVER since I have posted any pics of my art journey.  I have been so busy trying to keep up with the crazy number of on-line courses for which I have signed up AND trying to meet all my art and friend and design team commitments, that I haven't had a minute to stop and photograph and post any of my projects, so in the interest of time (and my NEED to SHARE) I thought I would just create one HUGE ART POST.... with pics of a lot of the stuff I have been playing around with these past few months... ENJOY!!

This is an ART Journal page I created for a Circle Journal I am currently participating in... I Loved it so much that I had a hard time sending it off.

The request was to create a page with an Art Journal feel using a quote from van Gogh... I used my dylusion sprays, water color paper, Donna Downey's flowers stamps by Unity stamps and my favorite dragonfly by Magenta stamp - 

Because I loved this entire page so much I am now creating a canvas using these colors and this design.

These next photos are the March lessons from my Life Book 2013 classes... I am learning all kinds of great art techniques through this on-line course... it's like going to ART School! Here is a journal page about messages from my heart to the people I love...

This next pic is kinda cool... my first ever attempt at painting people that I drew... Big "Me" and Little "Me" - it was an amazing experience... and a caused me to access and drain a deep pool of sadness that I didn't even realize I was carrying around. You can feel the emotion coming off the page!

Now I really struggled with this next assignment because I had to choose an animal to represent myself... and after some research and reflection (and a tarot card reading)... I chose the BADGER!  A seriously COOL animal!

This was also my first creation using the Mantra - "Don't THINK.. Just DO!" and I have to tell you it really does work.

These next three photos are from a fun Life Book exercise to set some ART goals for ourselves in this coming year - and again I just allowed this page to evolve, trying not to think too much, and I do love how the doodling turned out..

Again it took me longer than I thought because I really wanted these goals to mean something to me... 

and I have to say that I really love how my Goal "cards" turned out - created from a deck of old beat up playing cards!

So that's it for now... although it is already June (Really?!) I am now starting on my April Life Book lessons but I am not worrying about it at all.. As Mr. Badger Says... "I am just Walking my OWN path at my OWN pace!" Grin 

Thanks for stopping by and sharing with me again... and PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment - I do LOVE hearing from you!

Cheers! Lynne