Clearing out the Cobwebs!!

Cough, Cough!! Boy is it DUSTY in here!! LOL

Hello Everyone!!

I knew I had taken a break from blogging but I had no idea it had been this long! yikes! Time flies when life gets crazy!
Not that my life is any less crazy right now, in fact it is getting crazier with each passing day it seems, but I just have the need to start my Blog up again! I hope you won't mind!?

I have a bit of clean up to do around here, and started some of it tonight, but there are a few more things that I need or want to do. One of them being how to use my Ipad instead of the desktop pc!
So far so good tonight, but we will see. Have to learn yet how to post the pictures to the blog! Might be something kind of important! ;)
I will catch you all up on things going on in our lives as I go along. But for tonight I want to let you know that I have a few of the Unity stamp sets that used to be Ippity left and I would like to clear them out. I have them now prices at 50% off the retail price. I thought now was a good time to do it since my craft room is now all sitting in  my living room due to a link in my daughters bathroom..... so water should'nt get in between the walls?? and come up under wood flooring?? who knew??  right!? LOL....well I get a new wood floor and fresh coat of paint in my craft room!! haha!
So take a look at my sale page and email me if there is anything that you would like and I will get it out to you right away! The more I sell the less I have to put away! HA!

Thanks for stopping by and I will be back very soon!!

Have a great day!

Mary

Unity Friends With Flair

Hi Everyone!

Well this is actually my 2nd post for Unity Friends with Flair,...I hope you don't mind!
My first post was the card I made with my hand made paper and because I really wanted to see what you all thought about it. It was the first time I had ever tried it and like with everything that is new to you feed back is always good! So thank you for looking at it if you did!

In this post I have a Birthday card to share. Another Phyllis Harris stamp set. I do love her images so, can't you tell! ;D

I hope that you like it!

Thank you so much for stopping by again!

Blessings and Hugs,
Mary

Sharing some Hand Made Paper!

Hi Everyone!

Today I have something different to share with you! :D

A few weeks ago I went over to my girlfriends house and she showed me how to make handmade papers! Oh my gosh it was so much fun! Thank you so much to my girlfriend Cathy for inviting me into her studio! http://www.artstudiosandiego.com just in case you would like to check out her studio page!

 She is an incredible acrylic and oil artist, as well as handmade jewelry,(www.steampunkjewelry.net), collage and handmade books for journals etc. using  her handmade papers, so it was so fun to play with all of the different inks and paints to tint the papers. We also used dried flowers, teas and spices for color, texture and some for scent. Oh my goodness I could just play with it all day because you never really know exactly what you are going to get as far as color and texture until it starts to pulse  in the blender and then dries. We used scrap paper from the shredder for the pulp, another reason you don't really know what the color is going to be. ;D
We added the shredded paper,then covered that with water, more paper and then more water,then whatever flowers,teas or "extras" you want which can include inks, acrylic paints or dye. She said she bought the frames for pouring the mixture into at Michaels and the instructions that came with it are very easy to follow!

So first here are the papers that we did.

 And this is the one that I decided to work with first:

 So First I sprayed it with some Shimmer Spritz in Barn Door and Fireworks in Sweet Plum.

 Then I used Memento Luxe in Sweet Plum for the flourish stamp from Inkadinkado.

 The text stamp is from Unity Stamp Co. and I used Vintage Photo distress ink to stamp that.

And here is a card that I made with just a portion of the piece. The paper is pretty thick so you have to be careful when you tear it. You really can make them any thickness you want, so some of them are thicker than others. Some have more texture than others etc. I just depends on what goes in the blender and how much you pour out at a time.

 The yellow background paper is watercolor paper that I used dylusional ink spray on in yellow. Then when I sprayed the handmade paper I just used that paper to "mop" up what was left on the craft sheet after each spray. I like the effect! Plus I thought it helped to tie the colors of the papers together.

 I used ribbon from May Arts, and craft tag that I stamped with a Hero Arts chalk ink in Passion Flower, and the Sentiment is from Unity Stamps as well. :D

As I sit here looking at the photo I think I am going to add something to the bottom right comer of the yellow, maybe 3 pearls or dew drops. I think it needs something??

I have also cut out some flowers using the tattered flowers die from Tim Holtz and Sizzix to see how that works with these papers. I will let you know how that goes!

I can't wait to work with these papers some more!

And now I will be in the market for an inexpensive blender to make my own paper!

 It was fun, and ecological!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I know it is a long post so thank you for reading all the way to the end! I hope you liked it, and I would love to know what you think as well as any suggestions!

Until next time,

Blessings and Hugs,

Mary

It is Unity Friends with Flair Day!!

Hi Everyone!

Geesh!! It has been a long time! But my desk is finally clean, my craft room re-organized (for now tehe!) and I am ready to start blogging again!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you can stay for a bit! ;)

I have a card to share with you that I did for my Daughter's Birthday! She turned 31 years old on March 3rd! Not sure how that happened! LOL!

I used a Unity Stamp set from the "Fashionistas" line by Tracy Malnofski.
These are such fun stamps to work with!
This one is called "Sabrina".

 I "fussy" cut both images so that I could pop them up with pop dots for a little dimension. Her dress is paper pieced and then I used black stickles on the bodice for some birthday sparkles and added dimensional pearls for the polka dots on her skirt. :D

 The Birthday cakes is done with stickles in black,  pink and the white "frosting"  with dimensional pearls! I think it looks pretty close to what frosting should look like! :D The red that was used on the cake and on her skirt was colored with a copic R46.  

 The flowers are from Prima and the ribbon I believe is from May Arts. I used card stock from GinaK designs and the design paper is from echo park.

 

I admit I am a little rusty! I have been creating and I will be back with some projects maybe this weekend, but definitely next week. I will even show you a Bird House I painted for my first project of the year for our new backyard!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Or any day! All of your comments mean so much, and I thank you for each and every one!

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

Blessings and Hugs!

 

Mary

Unity Friends with Flair!

 Hi Everyone!

I have a card to share with you for Unity Stamps Friends with Flair!

This is a Birthday card that I did for a special Friend who is an artist and inspires me everyday!

 

 I used an image created by Unity's Angie Blom! I love Angie's images and I thought this one was perfect for my friend!

   

 

I printed her on Gina K pure luxury card stock and used Copics to color her in. The little flower on the easel I drew in. I do love the fact that the "canvas" on the easel is blank and so lends itself to having any image that might be special to the recipient so you can personalize it.

 

I used Gina K card stock for the matting, and echo park dots for the patterned paper.

Ribbon is from my stash (could be May Arts?) and the Buttons are from Button Galore and More.

 

I hope that you like her!

Thank you for stopping by!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Hugs,

Mary

A Grateful Mixed Media project to share!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday!

I have a page that I did for my Mixed Media Class with Tracy Weinzapfel to share with you!
This challenge was 2 parts one to share a page on being Grateful, find a quote that reflected your feelings. I found this quote by Albert Schweitzer :

 "At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."

When I read this quote I thought how perfect for Tracy! She rekindles that spark every Monday night!
I have others in my life, a few other close friends that can rekindled that spark in other areas of my life, but Tracy is able to get to the artistic side, the happy side of my heart and Soul.
I hope that you all have someone that can do that for you! And how exciting if you can do that for someone else! Wow what a feeling that would be!
The second part of the challenge was to you a color story board from Deco Arts or their Pintrest page.
I found a color story of a Navy, turquoise blue and gray with an accent of yellow tablescape. So the colors I used were Sapphire Blue & Turquoise Waters (Deco Arts), Turquoise (Plaid) and Dolphin Gray(Delta).

Here is my piece! I hope you like it!

 

  I did cut the flower our and raised it up with foam tape for some more dimension.

Supplies used:
Gesso from Claudine Hellmuth (Studio paints), Deco Arts Satin paint ( I love this new paint! so smooth to work with), Stencils from Crafter Workshop, Faber Castel paint pens, and Montana white paint pen.
Thank you for stopping by!

Have a wonderful day!

Mary

Unity Friends with Flair!

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to quickly share a card that I did for my Mom for her Birthday in September.

I used the Donna Downey Poppies stamp set from Unity. I love the size of these images it really allows you to blend and paper piece your piece if you want to...which I did! ;D

 I used water color paper for the image. The background is done with Deco Art paints, then I used Gellatos is reds and oranges for the poppies.

 Some sparkle fluff was used in the center of the poppy for dimension and then of course the prima crystals and may arts ribbon!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Your comments mean more to me than you will ever know!

 

Blessings and Hugs,

Mary