April Creative Dare!

Hi Everyone!

How is everyone??
I know it has been awhile again! ;)

I am here to share with you my Creative Dare for Mixed Media Mondays! Our April challenge was to pick 5 words that you would want to be remembered by....(Tracy makes us think!! lol)

Here are my words:

A Gentle Heart ( I know not really one word! haha)
Encouraging
Optimistic
Friend
Strong in Faith (Okay, I know not a word again! lol)

Here is my page:

 I used gellatos for the background...they are like playing with crayons! Love them!!

 The stamps that I used were Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous. And the Border stamps and the little house were from Dyan Reavley, Dylusions.

I used some dylusions ink to water color in the bird,with a water brush.

 And to seal it I used a new product to me,but one that Tracy had used last month, it is a liquid spray Decoupage,gloss sealer! It was so fun to use,and I love the finish that it gave my project. It is by Beacon. (And actually I think they are one of our sponsors for this month )

 

Well I hope you like it! Thank you so much for stopping by! It would be great if you could join us on Monday night at 6p.m (pacific time) for Mixed Media Mondays!

We have a lot of fun chatting,and there are prizes to be won by participating in the monthly challenges! :D And this month is Tracy's Birthday (43!) and she is giving away prizes all month long! The Girl knows how to celebrate! LOL Tracy Weinzapfel Studios !

 

Blessings and Hugs,

 Mary

Wishing you the Blessings of Spring!

Hi Everyone!

Today I have a card that I did for my Dear, Dear Friends that live in Minnesota! They are so wishing for spring right now, so I thought instead of a Card that said Happy Easter on the outside I would do one for Spring! ;)

The front of the card I used Unity Stamp Co. Stamp of the Week for the flowers,and the basket is a stamp from the Unity Feb. 2012 KOM. The sentiment is from Verve.( I love the font!)

I used a Spellbinders die for the mat and then attached it to a white cardstock base.

The flowers were fussy cut,as well as the basket and I used dimensional foam squares under them both to add a little dimension. Then I glued along the edges to hold them down.

I used a Butterfly stamp from the Rubber Cafe in memento dandelion ink and stamped onto the designer paper from a  DCWV paper stack for the background. The card stock is from GinaK. I used copics to color the flowers.And the grass at the bottom is a Sizzix die that I cut down to fit the size of the basket a little better. ;)

 

 The sentiment on the inside of the card is from GinaK designs, a set by Rupa Shevde called "Easter Blessings".

I did and another strip of grass across the inside bottom of the card just to add a little color.

 

Well, I hope that you like it! And I really hope that my Girlfriend will like it! It will be late in arriving for Easter, but I think it my arrive before Spring does to them this year! lol

Regardless it is beautiful with all the snow around them and on the lake! We sure do miss them!

 

Wishing you all the Blessings and Joy of this Easter Season!

 

 

Hugs,

Mary

MMM Creative Dare!

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great weekend! We spent time with friends and it was wonderful! :D

Today I want to share with you a canvas that I did for Mixed Media Mondays!
Our creative dare for March is to use a favorite song and buttons! ;)
We are being sponsored this month by Buttons Galore and Viewtainer. :D

So I know many will think my song choice is silly especially considering how old I am, however I am probably going to do another canvas for this challenge as well so this song just seemed like it should be my first choice!
Now before I tell you what it is let me explain it just a little ;D My Husband and I met in high school, just before my 15th birthday. And I loved Winnie the Pooh (where others loved Micky Mouse, I was all about the bear! tehe) and we also loved the group Loggins and Messina. And just about that time they came out with an album called "Loggins and Messina Siting in" (I think)...Kenny Loggins use to right songs for his Children and then put them on the albums,so on this album he had written  one for one of his Children and it was call "House on Pooh Corner". So that song somehow became "Our" song!
So here is my Canvas!

I used a lot of different products and Stamps. Paint is from Decco Arts and Claudine Helmuth. I used gesso and a template from Crafter's Workshop for the tree and then a stippling brush for the leaves.

The butterfly is a stamp from the Greeting Farm. Buttons from my stash. The words to the song as you can see are cut apart and then under the paint.

 I did try to find stamp images that reflected the words to the song. The Bees and the beehive is from Unity as well as the brick border that I used for the stepping stones from the little houses. I did paint those in with Studio Acrylics and india ink pen from Copic. The lamp post is from Stampendous, and the Flourish border and leaf is impression Obsession.

I also used Glossy Accents in the light of the lamp post and well as the windows to make them look like glass. I did use it on the butterflies as well after I colored them with copics.

I hope that you like it. I know that painting really isn't my strong area, or Mixed Media for that matter. But I am trying to go outside of my comfort zone and explore!
Thank you for stopping by and following me on my journey with Mixed Media!

Here is hoping that you have "chased all the clouds from the skies" in your lives!

Blessings and Hugs!

Mary

Friends with Flair!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all having a great day !

I have a short little post for you today for Unity Friends with Flair.

I did a Birthday card for my youngest Sister a few weeks ago using the May 2012 Kit of the Month for the main image.

 The image is colored in with copics and I did stamp them twice and cut them out so that I could pop them up with pop dots for dimension. The card stock that I used was GinaK,and the designer paper is from Graphic45.

On the inside I combined two different sentiments together ; the first one is from Unity's KOM March 2012,and the second which is have a Fabulous Birthday is from a Stamp of the Week set that I received in February.
You can blend stamps together to come up so many different sentiments which helps to give more life to them! Love that!

Well tomorrow I am taking part in the On-line Stamp Classes that Unity is also teaching in (Angela!)
"True Stamp",and I can't wait! It will be so fun! Are you going to be there? I will look for you in the chat room! :D

Have a great weekend!
Thank you for stopping by!

Hugs,
Mary

February Creative Dare "Life List"

Hi Everyone!

Today I have my February Creative Dare from Tracy Weinzapfel "Mixed Media Mondays" to share with you! You can find out all the details here on Tracy's Blog!

This month we were challenged to do a "Life/Bucket List" in a mixed media form. :D

Here is my attempt!

 I have used Deco Arts acrylic paints,Memento ink,and distress inks.

The sentiment stamps on the tag is from Rubber Arts Cafe. (One of the sponsors this month,along with DecoArts). The other stamps that I used are from Unity Stamps :)

The "Dream Big" sentiment I first stamped with modeling paste because I wanted some extra texture under it. Not sure if I like that or not!

Any way, I did emboss the "Beautiful Life" sentiment at the bottom of the page,and I think I like that better. ;)  The distress brick wall and the vines and flowers are from Unity,and I stamped those with the memento ink and distress ink. 

 I used Tim Holtz Washi tape over the top of my list. I kind of like the fact that it had the months of the year and felt that went well with the idea of the list.

 I love this sentiment by Rubber Cafe! They have some great ones that are still on my "wish" list! lol

Flowers are from May Arts (I think,..they were in my stash!)

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you enjoyed seeing my attempt. Do you have a "Life list or Bucket list"?  This Dare has given me a chance to think about some things that I would love to accomplish, and has made me refocus! It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday things that go on and to lose sight of ourselves in it.

 

Have a great week!

Blessings and Hugs,

 

Mary

What would you use Viewtainers for? LOL

Hi Everyone!

Well today I have a little different kind of post! haha!

I don't know if any of you have seen or use Veiwtainers for organizing your craft spaces or your Honey's (or yours for that matter ;)  ) garages. Or even your Children's toy area?

Well Viewtainer would like to know how you use them, or what you would use them for!
If you leave a comment on their facebook page, or post pictures of them in action in your space you could win a 3 pack of them! How nice would that be?! :D

So here are some pictures of how I use mine,...:D

 

I can sort my buttons by color. :) And these have tops that are slit so you can just squeeze the top and pour out the buttons! Easy!

 

They come in tall ones to store my Washi Tapes ;)

And my twines, by color family! :D

 

 Look at the pretty light blue and yellow! Perfect for my paint brushes! haha

AND they have sizes that are perfect for my Pitt Artist Pens and jars of india ink. As well as tall ones for jars of paint.

And if you have drafting pages or plans for a house they fit perfectly into one of the specialty sizes! haha! These are plans that my Daughter made while she was taking drafting and Architecture classes in high school and college, I couldn't part with them! LOL

These are some that I still need to sort buttons for and the raspberry color is going to have my gellatos stored in it, until I have enough of them that I can get the different colors and then store them by color coordinated cap as well. tehe!

 

Well I know this seems like a crazy post for me, but I really love these containers! They are really helping me to get organized and to stay neat while crafting....AND the biggest thing is that I can find stuff again! HaHa!!!

 

These are great for the garage as well, I plan to start ordering them, or you can find them at Home Depot, just not in as many pretty colors! I guess the guys don't want to store their nails, and bolts etc in Raspberry and pink containers! How boring! LOL

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Hugs,

 

Mary

Friends with Flair and Mixed Media Monday Collide!!

Hi Everyone!

It has been awhile since I have posted on Friends with Flair! It isn't because I am not using my Unity however! LOL

Today I thought I would share something that I had been working on for "Mixed Media Mondays with Tracy Weinzapfel"!

We did a coaster swap for Valentines day,and here are some of the ones that I created:

 I used the Unity ( {ippity} ) set  "Let your Heart Take Flight" .

 The writing background is a stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps called "How do I love thee".

I used deco arts paints, dyelusion sprays, different papers from the valentine pads from Carta Bella and Authentique.

 The lines are drawn with a copic india ink pen. Love that pen!! :D

Some of them I used plan glossy accents over the tops to seal them and some of them I used the crackle glossy accents and then rubbed black soot distress into them.

 

It was so much fun! I hope you like them! I know that the coasters that I received in return were just incrediable!! If you are intrested in joining our Ustream class on monday nights you can here on Tracy Weinzapfel Ustream Channel!

Here is her Blog with the Creative Dare for Febuary!

 

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a great weekend!

 

Blessings and Hugs,

Mary