Starting with a sketch that is pretty busy, I found photos that would work. Orientation and ability to manipulate the size with a little cropping dictates my choices. I also know what papers I wanted to use. There is a challenge on ACOT that asks us to pick a pack that needs to be finished off, I picked Magnolia from Fancy Pants Designs. This may not have been the most perfect choice, but I was determined to make it work.
This is the PageMaps sketch I used.
For me, the story is about this young mother getting the kids involved. She lets them have some hands-on fun, even though if you have ever tried to stir that marshmallow and cereal mixture, you will remember just how hard it actually is.
I stamped the word over the baby’s head – twice. When I first uploaded a photo of the completed layout and titled it “aproved” spell check changed it to “approved”! Oops!
This sketch is currently an on-going challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com. Hop on over and play along. Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a safe and happy day!
My DT project for this week’s Sketches in Thyme Blog sketch is about one of my very favorite birds. Several years back when I first saw baby Emus at my Brevard Zoo I believed they looked like prehistoric dino-birds. I wasn’t wrong.
Do you ever come across an endearing shot that touches your heart, not even trying for anything really special? I’m not sure why I snapped this photo of my precious 2 1/2 year old little one, but when I see it I feel so close to her. I re-live my emotional attachment to her.
Creating this layout was easy. Because of the colors in her clothes and muted chair I used papers from a Fancy Pants Designs collection, Magnolia. Choosing this pack was also prompted by challenge at A Cherry on Top to pic some collection and “bust it”, use it up. Normally I would have gone with some beautiful little girl florals had it not been for this challenge. Personally I love this collection with this photo.
My challenge for the past several months, or more, has been to layer. Pages with layers make me drool. For a long time I felt like I could never achieve that layered style, but that is the style that I am drawn towards.
It is the same thing with loving water coloring, I’m drawn to it but don’t do it well at all. I am now understanding that I must keep working at it in order to get results I like. Apparently not all of us are born with perfection in our every attempt! My new motto is “Keep trying”!
Various bits and scraps were combined here. The gold flourishes were cut from a Crafter’s Companion die, doubled for depth, and gold embossing power applied.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my post. May you find peace with your crafty art projects. Keep going when you feel discouraged!
I didn’t expect to find a 7-Eleven when I visited my family in Japan. I got excited to see them because I have always enjoyed my coffee from there, I truly like their coffee over other fast-food places. Shortly before having to return home my granddaughter had time to stop in so I could get coffee. Here is the layout I just made of this happy moment.
My title was a lucky find. I had this stamp, the Happiness in Kangi, up on the shelf over my table. Most of our stamps on wood have been removed from the block and new foam add, but there are still a few up there. I am so glad because it was perfect. I used white embossing powder so it would show up on the dark card stock. The patterned papers are from the Magnolia collection by Fancy Pants. More stamps were used, the small “Joy”, the journaling block, and the Bo Bunny stitching. This followed a Becky Fleck sketch.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a beautiful day where ever you are!
Did you know that you can send a hug in the mail? Why, of course, you do! It is a well known fact among use greeting card makers that a card is just a hug with a fold in the middle – better for imagining someone’s arms giving you a hug.
Using a Unity stamp set I added watercolor. I’m enjoying playing with watercolor more and more. I tell myself I will get better if I keep practicing! The second card is design I copied from Splitcoaststampers Featured Stamper today. I followed her idea with the open circle and cut mine with a circle and piercing die. Inside that is a couple of old Stampin’ Up! stamps, to which I added some watercolor pencils, but no water. This upper panel is adhered with pop dots then pasted to the card base. I added a few sequins for the sky.
I didn’t go out again today. I did, however, watch the mass from my church live on my laptop. I’m thankful for the distance measures my church is following. I still feel better watching from home.
So, hope you are having a blessed day where ever you may have wandered in from, do continue to be safe and may you get ‘crafty’ also!
I’m at a stand still with the quilt today, even though the backing fabric has been delivered. I have all the 36 squares sewn together and two rows of borders around that. So, now with our new idea to add a little something special before I add that last border …I wait.
As my day rolled on with nothing but rain, I managed to actually make a scrap page.
This page developed from two challenges I found at the A Cherry on Top site. One was to use a movie from the 50’s for the title. As soon as I spotted the movie “Sayonora” I knew this was perfect for these few photos of little interest to anyone but me. Then, to help me more figure out where to go from here I choose the “2-4-6-8” challenge. I could pick anything to represent the numbers and I chose the following: 2 – patterned papers; 4 – photos, 6 – embellishments, 8 – letters in the title. It all fell into place.
It’s not a great page but is tells my story of saying “Sayonara” to Japan and my beloved family there. That last drive to Tokyo, which ended at the airport, was sad for me. This page will bring back those memories.
The story that goes with my “selfie” is that I couldn’t find that ladybug pin on this morning we were leaving. The night before I got everything packed and ready. I was sure I had safely packed it. Well, I couldn’t find the pin and I know Leia was hoping I would wear it. Finally while sitting at my gate, waiting for boarding, I found it securely tucked in a safe place right there in my carry on bag. (You know about those ‘safe’ places, don’t you?) Anyway, I was thrilled to put it on and sent a picture to my precious Leia so she could be happy for me.
This page is representative of my new attitude for scrapping. I told myself to not fret or be so indecisive – just go for it. I’m opening myself up to watching and learning from a designer and teacher whose style I like. That is helping me. You should check her out. Victoria Marie Blog. Find her on Facebook, too. There are a few sites I find helpful for challenges when I’m staring at some photos and can not decided what to do with them. But, sometimes just having a challenge isn’t all I need to to plan a likable page. I need to work at the technique and steps to design a better layout, then apply that.
Thanks for stopping by to see what I’m up to today. I hope your crafty muse was treating you well.
Be kind to one another and to yourself, remember God loves us all!
It’s been a decent day for me. Daughter and I went for a bike ride. Fortunately I remembered to put on sunscreen. It was blazing out there. My coaster bike gives me extreme exercise. By the time we got back I thought my thighs were going to explode into flames. After that it was the usual: cook, eat, clean up the kitchen.
Now it was time to go play with my blocks.
The other day our new sofa was delivered. My daughter and I picked out a pretty floral to make pillows, but Joann’s didn’t have anything to go with it. That night I found what I had in mind on-line. All I can do is wait on the fabric before i can make our pillows.
Thursday evening I decided I wanted to make a throw for the sofa. I pulled out some of quilting magazines and Kristy and I decided on a rough idea for it. I began drafting it and, well, it wasn’t making me, or her, happy. So, hello Pinterest. Found an idea right away that we both like.
The next morning, Friday, I drafted it and began by going through my stash, pulling out all the colors that would go with our color scheme. By Saturday night I had a bunch of these 7 inch blocks (finished size 6.5).
Since I didn’t think about the fact that I would need 4 of these little blocks for a set, I only made 30. That is not evenly divided by 4. Putting 4 together is what makes the circle. So now I need 6 more of the individual blocks.
I have cut them now and tomorrow I will be able to sew all the 36 little blocks together. My next step will be to start the borders.
The need to scrapbook a page never comes to an end. But, sometimes a need for my fabrics reveals itself and I must work with those supplies!
Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a marvelous and creative week.
So true! And I am torn between the decision to go or stay home and be productive. The beach I would go to now isn’t a crowded place so I’m sure there would not be a problem with social distancing. The beach I spent my high school years at was a different story. Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale in the sixties was crowded during the day and boomed with music and dancing at night. Which brings me to the sharing of a scrapbook page I did for Sketches in Thyme blog. My photos are from 2014, therefore not so crowded.
Spatters, a big title cut from Cricut, and pretty Graphic 45 paper are my choice for these pictures. Photos are matted with a dark blue and a strip of light blue tulle added underneath. I added the fussy cut turtle and child, plus a few of the elements from the sticker sheet and found this bright fish from my sticker bin to add to the orange pop. Even the spatters have a pop of the orange.
This was a challenge for me. I struggle with titles anyway and to make such a large one nudged me out of my comfort zone. But, isn’t that what challenges do? I thank you for stopping by, and if you need a nudge to create some layouts for your photos I invite you to check out the Sketches in Thyme blog and find a sketch to try.
Task: Focus on my creative goals so I can appreciate my personal creative activities.
When I feel burn-out I will do something else and not stop being creative. If I’m not feeling another scrapbook page, perhaps I will make a card. Tired of paper, go sew something.
Task: Express my creative energy every day to find the joy in making art.
Sitting and wishing for something amazing to inspire me is futile. I make amazing happen! Not liking a result? Quickly survey the project and come up with one thing I could have done differently and jump back on the next project. Remember that practice changes everything; just don’t strive for perfection in art, doing art is the goal.
Task: Analyze why I am feeling this way about my particular art by looking below the surface and identify the reason.
Is it because my page doesn’t look like other peoples pages? The obvious answer is that mine doesn’t look like another person’s page is because every creative person is different. My page shouldn’t look like another page or it is just a copy and not mine. I have struggled with that, finding my style. It is fine to admire the work of another. I will keep ding that. Now, though, I will analyze the parts to see what I want to incorporate in my own work. I want to do more layers and clusters, so I will look at what others do to accomplish that to my liking.
We scrapbookers are coming off a major event and I wonder if this has contributed to my slump. Since iNSD I have made 17 layout pages. Those were done in one week. I’ve made only two pages since.
One is for Sketches in Thyme blog, as a DT, and that page I will show when it goes live.
The other is for a challenge at A Cherry On Top to use certain cuts, and only those cuts, of patterned papers. Unfortunately, I was not feeling embellishments, but I may add some before putting the page into the album.
Yesterday I started working in a book by Dana Fox. “Watercolor With Me In The Ocean”. I forced myself to start it and once I did I was so happy! I have so wanted to work with watercoloring. I’ve only dabbled it and would like to get better. This has been a delightful step to sparking my joy of art again.
Thanks for stopping in, hope you enjoy my little task list. Won’t you share with me and the rest of the viewers your ideas on this subject of not letting our love of art fall into a clump?
