Memorial Day 2012

Remembering All Our Service Men and Women who gave their lives for our country and our freedom. We HONOR you with great pride !

It was bought to my attention that I did not give any details about my tag. My tag was made as a tribute to our veterans so I really did not give thought to details.  But for those who asked?
I used my Americana Background & Border Set ( yes, Tim Holtz ). I used the bottom half of the background for the top 3/4 of my tag and the star strip for the bottom of my tag. (honor was cute from the top; I used those words for another project). I distressed my tag using faded jeans, fired brick and brushed corduroy distressing inks. I used my rosette die and then cut out a patriotic piece from the seasonal paper stack. Added two stars ( yes I added bling to them) and my colorized yarn; I really have fun colorizing that funky yarn !! And then spritzed it with heirloom gold perfect pearls mist ... there you have it !!

Wobble !

Fuller/Banks Family Picnics

Cupid Shuffle Family Style
Nothing quite like the fun of all generations of the  Fuller and the Banks clan coming together to dance . You can't see them all in the photo because there are two groups of  dancers. ( we could not get them all to come together (Banks and the Fullers ) but there were at least twenty people in each group dancing to the same music but in different sections of the park! So much fun ... some of us will probably be stiff for a couple of days !! Music was "great" ... the "teachers" were great !!

Journal Back
I'm sure that at some point as I'm inspired,  I will complete the covers of my Art Journal, but I thought I'd share what I had done so far. Go check out Eclectic Paperie's blog , the E- Team is doing a Blog Hop, those are some very creative women!

Art Journal

Art Journal Cover
I used a  Mixed Media Journal I got from the sale bin at Michael's, covered it with GCD Studio Paper  "Spring In Bloom", love this paper, it's got a really cool texture to it. I embellished it with  Recollections   Card Making Embellishments from my stash I added Tim Holtz's  Ideology corners and a hinge clip ( on the back). I printed out the quote and distressed the edges with spun sugar distressing ink on the front. On the back I stamped a quote from Tim Holtz's stamps, and a butterfly from my stamp stash.

A Journaling We Go Part 2

My Art Journal Part 2

Oh my goodness... I can't believe how fun this was. The E-Team at Eclectic Paperie invited the bloggers to participate  along with them in their Art Journal Challenge. Can't believe I'm doing this! I loved the quote for this month - A woman is like a tea bag , you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. Eleanor Roosevelt . I was inspired by members of the design team, I too like the tea cup idea. I envisioned a woman coming up out of the tea cup "celebrating" who she was. I started my page by distressing it with shabby shutters, spun sugar and dusty concord distressing inks. Then I stamped it with  my Deco Lady stamp from Stampendous, when I stamped her something had gotten under my mat so parts of her hair did not "print" ( Oh no... now what! )... aah Hampton Art stamp to the rescue, I stamped her at the spot that did not print... hum... I think I like this... so I used a second Hampton Art stamp for my dancing lady . These are the Graphic 45 Vintage Ladies. Now I needed a tea cup... drawing is NOT MY GIFT ... aah Sizzix Tea cup die  cut from K & Company Jubilee paper , distressing the edges in tea dye distressing ink and tied a tag at the handle ... yay ... saved the day!  I used a flourish stamp from my stash for the steam which I stamped with sepia archival ink.  I colored the stamps using a combination of color pencils, gelly roll metallic pens and a watercolor paint pen. I embellished the ladies dress and around her hair with diamond stickles, once that was dry I spritzed it with heirloom gold perfect pearls mist. I printed the quote on my computer and tore the edges and distressed the edges with a combination of spun sugar, dusty concord and tea dye distressing ink; so that it gave an effect of being in the tea steam. Let's see I think I covered the details oh ... I added sections of the flourish to the tea cup, and a tea bag to the quote. New experience , but fun, I look forward to stretching my creativity with these challenges... Thanks E-Team for allowing us to participate!

Monthly May Challenge

Monthly May Challenge
I liked my card and realized it could be my May Challenge for Inspiration  Emporium ( blog.inpirationemporium.com). They are doing a May challenge with flowers, any flowers... perfect! My flowers were colorized with fired brick, worn lipstick and festive berries distressing ink and then misted with perfect pearls perfect pearls mist. The card idea came from Swirlydoos. Check my previous blog post for details.

Aah ! I like it ..

Such Pretty Flowers!

Flowers, butterflies, lace and bling. It feels like spring !
This week I've been having a ball making new things, experimenting. I came across these gorgeous cards at Swirlydoos. They were so amazing I wanted to try one. If you go to www.swirlydoos.com/sd-pluggins/forum/forum-viewtopic.php156633 there are instructions. Thank you Paulien van den Bosch for the link. And of course you all know that when I'm playing I use a random selection of papers. I really love my K&Company stash. This paper is from the Jubilee Designer Collection, they are such bright beautiful papers! Earlier this week when I did my Tim May tag I needed to do some stitching on my sewing machine (I had not done this before), and discovered how cool and easy it was, so I decided to do some stitching on this card. What fun! My machine was acting up a bit so I did not want to press my luck. I colorized these flowers a bit, then added some perfect pearls  mist; love it .
I gotta say the construction of the card was fairly easy once my "pea brain" grasped the concept. Lesson learned stressful days are not days to try something new ( I knew that !). I probably could have made some money on worlds funniest videos as I tried to figure it out, but for the most part it was easy.

See he's still alive! This  is Tiny Tim. He wasn't sure if he wanted me to get close... What I was just checking your work !

12 Tags of 2012 May Tag

I pulled the flower that looked the worst and decided to leave the rest of the tag as is.

I did not have the cash key so I used a flower I found in my stash and improvised on it's center, I actually like the scissors and pattern piece. I made the mistake of leaving the room with the tag laying on my table and returned to find it in the floor with a couple of flowers  chewed and the edge chewed !!! Tiny Tim was sitting there blinking at me... he's still alive !

April Showers Bring May Flower !

It's Tag Time ! You know I'm following Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012 challenge right ? Last month I was falling over my bottom lip because I did not have the supplies. When I saw this month's tag at first glance I thought WOO HOO ... I GOT THIS !! Going down the supply list ... OH NO !!! NO white roses, No vermilion or cobalt blue ink, No cash keys,...NO SPRING COLORS EITHER!!! NO ... NO... NO...!!! A day later ( must have a pout day ) I dug in my stash .... singing " I'm gonna do this, I am, I am ...". It first looked intimidating ( I do what appear to be the hardest parts first), so the flowers were done first ... I did not have white roses, I had a few light blue so I tweaked them a bit I used wild honey, spun sugar, festive berry and evergreen bough distressing inks to colorize my flowers (I'm thinking not spring... well sort of), then I added another sprig of white flowers that I colored with wild honey( thinking yeah, this will work). This technique was so fun, I was actually pleased with them. Next the pattern tissue; no problem I have lots of old patterns, and yay, I have the stamp set. Using faded jeans and fired brick worked well, I even used a hint of fired brick on the spun sugar flower to make a darker flower.

Tea Time

Not too shabby !

Tea Time

Okay, nobody shares their 1st attempt at a project, right? WRONG ... Brave woman that I am ... I'm sharing this one. I just wanted to see how difficult it would be. I just chose a paper I wasn't likely to use , well once it was assembled I needed to finish it (that will teach me to choose just any paper) ... Easier said than done! Embracing my imperfections I completed it ... Yeah me !
This was a double sided paper from K&Company Jubilee ( not a bad paper, just not what I would make a teacup out of ). With a little help from some rub-ons in my stash I was able to give it some "personality". I used the Sizzix ScoreBoards Die 3-D Tea Cup and Sizzix 3-D Flower Die, added some lavender tulle and some lavender ribbon and a little bling. As they say in my neck of the woods... Not too shabby!

Woo ... I did it ... I made a tea cup !

Very productive weekend... Cards,cards and more cards!

I used a little something from "everybody" . Two papers from K&Company Classic K Charlotte, three Tim Holt dies (Movers & Shapers Mini Butterfly ,Baroque and Elegant Flourishes and Sizzix 3-D Flower. Ranger Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, Barbara Trombley's Sea Shell Art Glitter,Making Memories Findngs Gem Pins. Misc. bling, pearls, organdy ribbon,tulle and paper flowers (Joann's and Michael's.

Rea's Queendom Challenge

A Mother's Day Card
I did not go anywhere to crop for National Scrapbook Weekend and there where soooooooooooo many challenges online. So I decided to have some fun of my own. I was asked to make cards for my brother-in-law. I decided I had to create these cards using what I have ( ok girls .. stop laughing... I've got lots of stuff) ... something old something new. What fun I had.