"When our eyes see our hands doing the works of out hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our soul flies open and love steps forth to heal everything in signt"

-- Michael Bridge

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Weathering the Storm Together - Lawnscaping #28!

Hi there! Happy Tuesday :). I had hoped to share this yesterday, but I was nurturing two sick kiddos. So I'm here today to share my entry into the Lawnscaping #28 Challenge - Distress Inking (woo hoo!!). P.S. double clicky to get a closer view ;) and a closer upper of the pretty misting

I was super excited about this challenge, because I think Distress Inking is so much fun - and I love the results! I was inspired by a card I saw in the most recent PaperCrafts Mag. where someone (sorry, I only had a quick look - while in Joann Fabrics - still waiting on my copy from the mail man) used umbrellas and Copics to color below them. I loved it, and thought it would be fun to create something along those lines with Distress Inks.

I started off by stamping (in Archival Black) the fun Lawn Fawn umbrella from the Partly Cloudy set. Then I also stamped it onto masking paper and instead of just paper piecing the umbrella, I fussy cut the top precisely, then cut it all the way down the sides to create a white background underneath the umbrella. Then I went to town with finger applicators and several Distress Inks to create my colorful rainbow background. Then, before I removed the mask, I used some pearly mist for some shine.

Next I stamped, Copic colored, and paper pieced a few critters from LF's Critters in the Burbs set and added them to the card... Then I decided I needed grass - added that (using a Fiscars Punch and a distressy green patterned paper from Basic Grey's Lauderdale 6x6 pad) and a cute LF birdie (stamped directly onto the card). Finished it off with a sentiment from Partly Cloudy :). I really like how it came out. Super fun - to look at and make ;). If I was down in the dumps, a card like this would make me perk up.

Thanks for peekin at it. Even though I had a few sickies on my hands this weekend, I still managed to sneak in some "me" time. I actually went into organization overload! Organized all of my ribbons (which were a jumbled/tangled mess) into color order. Same with my Distress Inks and Ink Pads. It was a nice distraction and I feel like I'm breathing a bit easier :). Organizing things makes me HAPPY!

Also, fun fact, I won a giveaway over on the Crate Paper Blog a few weeks ago & got a little bundle of goodness delivered this weekend - YAY! Don't mind the foot of my child's animal in there ;), just oogle the Crate Paper goodness!!! I can not wait to dig into this stuff! I'm working on the title page of my project Life album and may get some of this in there, I LOVE LOVE LOVE CRATE PAPER SO MUCH!!! Have an amazing day friends!!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Emerson quotes - last day :(

Hi guys - Happy Tuesday.

Well, today I am sharing the last 4 cards that I made using the Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes. I really like this last set. Again I incorporated doilys - as I'm just loving them right now. So pretty. The patterned paper is My Minds Eye "Lost & Found" and I added in some pretty Prima Flowers and Pins.

This top card is my fave. Mainly because I was able to incorporate Lawn Fawn Alphas :). The other two quotes were just too long to even try - trust me, I had a bad experiance ;).

I really like how they all came out & I'm hoping my friend will as well. She also wanted a card to present theis set to her friend that she bought them for. I used October Afternoon patterned paper (8X8 pad) for this one: Kept it pretty simple. But cute I think. Anyway, thanks for peekin'. I hope you have a great day.

Monday, February 20, 2012

and the Emerson quotes continue ;)

Hi there! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was good. We had lots of great family time - which is always nice. Also, I finished the card set that my friend ordered from me - which was also nice.

So, today I wanted to share another set of 3 of the cards with ya ;). For this set I used an Echo Park Happy Days 6x6 pad and a combo of typed and stamped sentiments.


For the top two cards, in which I stamped the quotes/sentiments, I used Lawn Fawn's Sally's ABCs. Hands down, it is my current favorite set of alphas. I LOOOOVE them! I've also incorporated doilys in each of the cards - because they're so dainty and cute!

This weekend we did something cool, we headed to the Museum of Discovery and Science (we have an annual pass and go there at least once - sometimes twice, a month). They had a Ladybug Release Party which was so much fun! They gave the kids each a handful of Ladybugs and they you bring them over to a fiend and release them into the air. It was magical - the look on my son’s face! I had to share a few pics :)


That’s it for me today. Tomorrow I’ll share the final cards in this set :). Hope you have a great day!!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

More Emerson quote cards :)

Back again today with three more cards I’m making for a friend to gift onto a friend :). In case you missed yesterday’s post (which you can read down below today’s) the only specification I was given was 13 specific quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 13 fantastic quotes, I might add.

Anyway, before I had received the actual quotes, I thought I’d stamp everything, using my Lawn Fawn alphas which I am so patrial too. However, once I received the actual quotes, AND made a mistake on the SAME work 3/4 of the way into a specifically LONG quote, I decided that some would have to be typed on a typewriter. Because I did not want to loose my mind :).

So, obviously I used Smitty’s ABCs on one of the cards, with a short/sweet sentiment. The other two I typed out and inked up (using Old Paper Distress Ink). The butterfly stamps - which I really, truly love, are Hero Arts. Patterned paper is from a 6x6 pad of Crate Paper’s Portrait Collection. Added in a few pearls, and a sparkly Copic to add some shimmer to the butterflies, and there you have today’s cards.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Emerson quotes card sets...

Good morning! How was your Valentine’s Day?? Mine was nice, we took the kids down to eat pizza/walk on the beach and get ice cream. Was a nice family night.

Anywho, I have some cards to share, as a friend of mine contact me last weekend to see if she could order a set of cards from me. They’ll be a gift for a gal in her online moms group - HOW SWEET! She wanted a set of 12 cards for the friend, and 1 to give to her along with the set - 13 cards total. She wanted them all to have specific quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson (LOVE!) And so far, I’ve created 9 of the 13.

My strategy in creating them is to make 4 sets of 3 like cards and then I'll make a uniquely designed card for her to give the friend. Today I’ll be sharing 3 of them with you :).

As you can see, I've been working with Distress Inks here. Having some blendy fun! Also I've (clear) heat embossed some Hero Arts stamps onto white (Neenah) cardstock and inked/misted over them. Fun stuff right here. Of course, I had to incorporate Lawn Fawn Alphas (I've used Jessie's ABCs, Sally's ABCs & Smitty's ABCs between the three) and also on one of the cards I threw in some leaves from their Blissful Botanical collection, and on another, I added birdies from the Fly Free and bannerific sets. The mist is Perfect Pearls. Loving this mist!!

Anyway, that's my crafty share for the day. I hope you have a good one & see you tomorrow with 3 more cards :)

Monday, February 13, 2012

That's HOT! Lawnscaping #27 Challenge!

Hi there! Things have been kind of crazy for me lately and it’s left me little energy or time to create. This weekend was another busy weekend, but I managed to fit quite a bit of craftiness in too :).

Warning: If moderate innuendoes involving toasters & bread make you feel dirty, don’t read any further into this post. If not have a look at the Valentine’s Day card I made for my hubby:
Hee hee. I say an image like this on Pinterest & immediately knew I’d HAVE to make it into a card for Sal! I mean, Lawn Fawn’s Love n’ Breakfast set was perfect!!! The patterned paper is from Echo Park’s Happy Days Collection (6x6 pad). I’m entering this into the Lawnscaping #27 Challenge - as the color combo inspired me :) On another note, my family and I spent Saturday night at Sun Life Stadium watching the Monster Jam - lots of fun!!! Here are a few pics:



Thanks for peeking! I hope your Monday is good to ya!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Hi there!

Hi there. I just wanted to stop in and share a few pics from my weekend. I had all these plans to create a mini book. That didn't really work out for me. Everytime I thought I might fit in some time, there was something else to do. I'm going to get started tonight I hope.

Anyway, one of the fun things I did this weekend was. I took my kids and niece to a farm in Homestead, Florida (about an hour - and en entire country - away. This is WAY south/south Miami. Anyway, we were invited by our friends to go strawberry picking. Unfortunately the strawberries were all picked by the time we got there, so we actually went Tomato picking instead. It was a fun experiance :).





and in the end I have tons of tomatos :). I've used 3 or 4 and they are amazingly fresh!

So that's it. Next time we will be leaving a lot earlier to get our chance at the strawberries, but I can tell you, the tomatoes are amazing!!!!! That's it for me today. I hope your Monday is good. Back tomorrow with a crafty share I hope!!