Shimmery, Grungy....

The WONDERFUL family day of Thanksgiving has passed. With the AWESOME smells....GREAT food....and a time to reflect on how BLESSED  we truly are!!!

Now....we have moved onto Black Friday.....
CRAZY crowds...pushing people looking for FABBY deals and a WANT lists.

I want to take one more day to reflect on HOW AMAZING my life is. How BLESSED I am to have  two FANTABULOUS children who have been through "more than the average bear" and are still thoughtful, kind and THANKFUL!!

A sister who is my HERO!! She has a HUGE giving heart and best of all....she CRACKS ME UP!!

My niece who is just my PRIDE and JOY....and my nephew who is quiet but I LOVE HIM TO PIECES!!

My mom.....who started this WHOLE family thing!!! 

Now....that it's fair game to play Christmas Caroles and bring out the Christmas Decorations
to don the house and yard!!

I pulled out LOTS OF Canvas Corp goodies and made a Christmas Card!!!

I began with a piece of Canvas Corp ~ Gold and Kraft ~ Stripe Paper.
I spritzed, front and back, a piece of the paper
with Luminarte ~ Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist ~ Persimmon
mixed with Golden Bamboo Primary Elements.
Using the Tattered Poinsettia Die....
I cut 3 flowers,

crumpled them and finished it off with a vintage button.

I cut the base card from the Gold and Kraft Stripe Paper
ran the edges through the Distrezz it All
and then dipped the edges into puddles of my custom mist.

I tore a piece of Canvas Corp Kraft ~ E Flute,

spritzed it HEAVILY with
Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist ~ Egyptian Gold,

crumpled it in my hand,

then dipped the edges in
puddles of my custom mist.

How 'bout the flourish....
cut from Canvas Corp ~ Handmade Paper
and doned with
Luminarte ~ Silk Acrylic Glaze ~ Emperor's Gold.

I then dipped the Kaiser ~ Magic ~ Just Believe paper in the left over puddles.

And there you have it......a shimmmery....grungy

Christmas Card!!!

Be thankful for what you have; 

you'll end up having more. 

If you concentrate on what you don't have, 

you will never, ever have enough.
-- Oprah Winfrey

Sketch Inspiration......

It's been a REALLLLLY long time
since I played along with a sketch!! So, when I had the opportunity
to play along with this weeks sketch at Sketch Inspiration....

I JUMPED AT THE CHANCE!!

For my take on the sketch.....I chose to design a card.

I pulled out some papers from past Swirlydoo's kits...

Grabbed some of those leftovers laying around on my craft table...

My Distrezz It All.....

Emperors Gold ~ Silk Acrylic Glaze....

and voila!!

So....why don't you pull out some of your left over papers

and supplies and play along with the 

Swirlydoos Design Team Members 

and the Sketch Inspiration peeps.

When you have finished your creation.....

make sure to load them into the

Sketch Inspiration Gallery....

who know you could be the winner of this gorgeous kit....

donated by Swirlydoos.com

A season of THANKFULNESS......

THE TRUTH......the most important holiday....THANKSGIVING seems to be missed in the whole holiday roundup this time of year. The focus seems to be Halloween, which I can sooo do without, then we hop right into Christmas.

Over at Paper Issues....we are on a quest to SAVE THANKSGIVING!!! 

a good cause if I do say so myself.....

 My creation is a Mini Brag Book!!! just right for all those beautiful pictures of the fall and of THANKSGIVING DAY!!

I created this gatefold mini from an 8 x 8 Canvas Artboard cover cut with the AMAZING Zutter Kutter....dang that thing can cut!!I covered the artboard with a bag (loved the vintage look) and other vintage ephemera. 

I was at it again creating and coloring flowers and leaves (one of them is a prefab by Maya Road) using the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral and Tattered Leaves Die.

The Tim Holtz Corners just added such a wonderful touch to the corners!!

See those yummy torn up edges of the paper.......that would be the FABTACULAR Distrezz It All!!! ohhhhhh....love that look!!
So, put your Christmas creatin' aside for just a moment....and think on it....Thanksgivings not all about ALL THE YUMMY food (don't get me wrong....I can't wait for the mouth festivities to begin) but for being THANKFUL...what are you THANKFUL for???
 Link your creations up to the Paper Issues Blog....Can't wait to see the wonderfulness that you create!!

the RED...WHITE...and BLUE!!

Yesterday, in the States, was a day of parades, BBQ's and fireworks....and I admit, I participated in all of them...MUCH TO MY DELIGHT...

I think the most awe inspiring thing I saw all day....was  OUR Veterans in the parade. I stood, clapped and cheered for them, as they walked by and for ALL WHOM THEY REPRESENT!! ....so today I say, THANK YOU, to our founding Fathers who risked soo much and to ALL of those today who put themselves in harms way to protect us and our freedom!!! my hat goes off, and my heart goes out to the families, who are missing loved ones that are serving or have given their lives....so I could celebrate yesterday!!!!

I SAY THANK YOU!!!









I created this card using the Reminisce Collection... Stars and Stripes!!

The Fun of it ALLLL!!!

Oh I've been gettin' messy again!!! I know...I know.....you are totally surprised!!! Even TOTALLY SHOCKED!!! hehehehehe.....

Them girlies over at Let's Capture Our Memories are AT IT AGAIN...such a creative bunch they are!! Well...they are fixin' to have a Birthday and Liz Hicks, Tattered Angels Educator is going to be stopping by....so Tink (aka Tanya our fearless leader) came up with a FAB idea....to have a ScrapCapture....What is that you ask....Have no fear...I'll tell ya!!!

You see Liz created this BEYOND AMAZING layout....

I wasn't kidding when I said it was AMAZING!!! So, the whole idea is to look at this layout and to be inspired and to scraplift it!!!

As soon as I saw it...the wheels in my mind started up!! but I had to wait TWO WHOLE days before I could begin....complete torture to say the least!!

Enough chatting....here is my take on Liz's layout...

Let me tell you....I had ink and paint EVERYWHERE...I was having so much fun. Now when I started this project at 10 o'clock last night...do you think I could find a 12 x 12 piece of cardboard?? No!! so I improvised. I cut 2 pieces 6 x 12, turned it on its side, cut the ends off and stuck them in the corners. Then I glued them down to another sheet of paper!

I painted the cardboard with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Acrylic Paint....first I used Blank Canvas (white), then I added Landscape Green, for accent I added some Gold Acrylic Paint Dabber. I pulled out my Glimmer Mist, Frost and Pinecone, and I sprayed away!!

OH and see the piece of Duck Cloth.....I sprayed it with a little Pinecone and Frost Glimmer Mist, brushed on some Blank Canvas. I then created a "puddle" of Pinecone on my Craft Mat, dragging the edges of the Duck Cloth through the "puddle". I then sprayed chosen spots with water to cause the color to wick into the fabric.

Do you like the hint of blue in the white flowers....I painted them with Frost Glimmer Mist. I also did some Green Scrappin in this layout. Some Prima packaging spritzed with Pinecone. The brown flowers and florishes....well they came from the back packaging of the Basic Grey Cappella brads. They were the perfect accents for this layout!! I unfortunately am out of Prima bling so I added some string pearls for additional accents.

Did I say....I used my Distrezz It All??? Yes, I did....on the photo, paper and cardboard!!!

So there you have it ladies......my messy scrappy layout....OH THE FUN IT WAS!!!

LCOM Sketches....

Love these gals at Let's Capture These Sketches and their sketches!!! (sure do miss them girls!!!) Ally had a fab sketch this week....so I just needed to play along....I've been on this mixed media kick so there are all different textures in the background...fabric, cardboard, chipboard, patterned paper, cork paper...oh the fun!!

So, to add a twist, there was a challenge with the sketch....3 stamps or stickers....I stamped twice on the cork paper...once with white paint, the other with Perfect Pearls and "Delight" is a sticker of sorts. My added twist was the use of my Reinker Mixture, wicked up into the fabric. I did that by spritzing the mixture onto my craft mat and they running the edges of the material through it. I then spritz the fabric with water to help in the wicking process. I also dabbed the fabric into it and dabbed some on top of the white paint.

Reinker mixture you ask......it consists of a Mini Mister, one dropper full of Reinker Ink and Perfect Pearls of your choice and water....boy did I have fun with it!!!  In the background and on the ribbon, you will see Bundled Sage and Perfect Bronze Perfect Pearls Reinker Mixture, also on the birdcage. 

I also colored the Prima Cameo Roses. I did that by squirting a glob of Terra Cotta Dimensional Pearls onto my Craft Mat. I then dipped my paint brush into some water and mixed the Dimensional Pearls around then painted on the Roses.

See those YUMMY roselike flowers....well I will be doing a tutorial later in the week on how to make those LOVELIES!! They are fun and ohhh so easy!!! and I made them up!!

Oh how could I forget to mention my STUPENDOUS DISTREZZ IT ALL....see the edges of the photo...yes that would be the Distrezz it All!

Primaliscious Cards....

Wow, so my day began at 3:30 am with a task that I ASSUMED would be a simple one....but turned out to be far from it!!! My daughter and hubby are headed to Maryland for his middle daughters wedding....we did the usual...called AAA to get a Triptik and maps...ALL LOOKED GOOD. So, this AM I was going to print out directions from the hotel to the place the wedding is being held, simple enough.... To my surprise...there are TWO BOONSBOROs in MD....can you believe it....and guess what the Triptik was to the WRONG ONE....which was over 3 hours away from the right one. Boy am I glad I checke as they would have been TOTALLY lost and would have missed tonights rehearsal....SOOOOO needless to say...I SAVED THE DAY and the trip!! I keep calling to check and see how they are doing as my wonderful daughter is not the best navigator in the world!!!

So, as I was up SSSSSSSOOOOOO early I decided to create a few cards as my card stash is getting a bit low!! Here is the first one I created.....Prima Gunge-o-lisciousness!!! I had sooo much fun with this one and it's very simple!!

The bow is made out of a torn piece of muslin....papers and flowers are by none other that the amazing PRIMA!! Add a little Gesso, Distress inks and my toooo gooo tooo TOOL....the DISTREZZ  IT ALL! and I have to say....I love the effect I got after I inked the base Bazzill card then ran it through the Distrezz it All, how it exposed the lighter color!!

Card number two....I wanted to get a little cutsie with this one...step away from my dark grungy colors.

I never can quite get away from the grungy inky look though....but this was fun!! with all the pink and pearls going on!!

Lastly, here is card number three......I went a little MIST happy to say the least!! but something cool happened that I really liked...after I punched and sprayed the PRIMA paper with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist, I dried it with my heat tool....and it curled on the edges...which I decided I really liked!!!

The center, part of an Innoscence Flower has been colored with Dried Marigold Reinker Mixture...I sprayed it with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist then dipped the petals into pool of Reinker Mixture I had on my Craft Mat. Wetting the flower helped the Reinker Mixture to wick up into the petals nicely!!

Well I'm off to make a phone call to see how the "Travelers" progress is going!! Have a great weekend!!

PS....the Reinker Mixture is made by adding one dropper full of Distress Reinker Ink into a Mini Mister, adding the Perfect Pearls of your choice and then filling most of the remainder of the Mini Mister with water. You don't want to fill it to the top because when you put the sprayer in...it WILL overflow!! Shake it up and away you go.....I love making these as they match the inks I use on my creations....a nice touch!!

Flowers and boys....

I really wanted to push myself this week and to do a combo that can be difficult at times.....boys and flowers...when I am working on layouts of my daughter or niece....they just flow with flowers. I created a layout of my son in his much younger years and it worked like a dream, but when I start scrappin' his older photos it becomes increasingly difficult because flowers add an air of femininity which he is not.

So, to start my challenge off, I chose April's BAP, (build a page) from Prima. I had these wonderful summer picts of Douglas and the perfect papers from my TimelessDaydreams kit. Add the Distrezz It All, some Glimmer Mist and the Amazing Prima flowers and there you have it......MY BOY!!

So how do you think I did?? Did I pull it off?? I think so....and Doug agreeed!