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Friday, August 29, 2014

Card Friday

My final set of cards from my Embellish Kit....The Thank You card is my favorite of this bunch...but honestly, the auqa, gray, navy and red are amazing together on all of these. 


As I've been making these, I've been inspired to start sending and giving cards more.


Its something I used to do...buy beautiful cards and send them. I had QUITE a collection at one time. But somewhere along the line, I stopped sending them.


Wouldn't you love to get one of these beauties in the mail? Way better than an advertisement or a bill, right!?!?!?


Have a beautiful day!


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Set Free

I could not have done the Liberation theme without telling the story of how I first met Jesus.



I'm talking about my ultimate liberation over on Inside Out today.

Click HERE to see the rest of the story!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Card Friday

Today, I'm showing you just a couple more cards from my first Embellish It Card Kit. I think of the cards in this kit, these two are my favorites...

It has to be the colors and the a-typical shapes.


Either one of these could be easily duplicated with any papers and stickers you happen to have on hand.


Both make use of the rule of thirds, thus are solidly designed and appealing...I'm learning, see?  


I'll be embarking on a very busy weekend this weekend - I love this time of year...but it sure does make things challenging for getting into my studio!!!

BUT...I've got a cute teacher gift to share with you on Monday...one more project from the SFTIO Liberation Kit to round out the month. 

until then,

Peace, ya'll!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Authentic Crazy

Have you ever looked around you and realized that "normal" didn't really exist?

I'm talking about my own personal sort of "not normal" over on Inside Out today...


Click on my little linky above and go take a look!

Have a beautiful, day, my friends!!!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

First Day of School - Noah

1st Day, TK

My sweet Noah...

His first day of school was last week.

this is his first day - an outfit, backpack, shoes all picked out by him.




He's got his own style, his own taste. While sometimes it aligns with Jayden, sometimes its wildly the opposite...and he has his own sense of what colors "match." This was another day last week...his own style...



He's a big boy, but still says funny things...

He says DOOs instead of DOES...

ERRUPT rather than interrupt...

and he doesn't make up games, he NAMES them up...

He's smart as a whip, much smarter than many people know becuase he tends to be shy and doesn't feel the need to profess his knowledge.

This kid knows every street name and which direction to turn to get to Grandmas and to church...he has a driving need to know the way, to know where he is going.

Trying new foods is not his favorite thing - he's an increadibly picky eater. Though, we have recently added Calabash shrimp and corn dogs to his very limited repetoire.

Above all of the amazing things about him, tho...He is a remarkably caring little boy, open hearted and full of generosity.

Happy First Day, big guy!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Do you Meet Up?

One of the coolest things about the art of scrapbooking in particular is that the artists teach one another new techniques, demonstrate different approaches, and share their individual stories and processes in classes and crops. Scrapbookers don't just document, they build communities.

In much the same way, quilters, beaders, yarn artists, mixed media artists, sculptors, etc form their own enclaves, build their own artistic communities.

The trick, it seems, is finding one of these groups to get involved with .

Now, you could be like me a have a couple of friends who share your hobby and want to just come over and hang out in your kitchen.

But even we like to branch out, meet up with others, talk, share, learn, generally be part of a larger community.

I'm not sure what its like where you live, but where I live it can be hard to find things to do with people who have the same interests as I do.

This is especially true in my community when it comes to my crafting hobby. The stores that cater to my hobby in this area - the place I would normally go for events and classes - are primarily large chain stores with generic classes and no meeting spaces.

I imagine any artist in any community can find themselves in the same predicament, feeling like a lone wolf.

Enter Meet-Up.com.

Meet-up.com offers a way for you to gather with others who share your interests. The individual meet-ups take many forms  - regular meetings, special events, tours, trips, or retreats. The potential topics range from business networking to wine tasting to christian singles to quilting to moms of multiples to exercise groups and nearly every possibility in between.

Most groups are private - choosing to disclose meet-up opportunities only to the group members. However, the good meet-up organizers give descriptive summaries of their groups so you know what sort of opportunities they provide for meeting. Once you are a member, you can choose to get updates and notifications in a way that works for you and you can reserve your spot in the various events as it fits your schedule.

Obviously, the groups will be different depending upon your location and the individuals involved...but so far, I've had nothing but awesome results from the meetups I've participated in.

A couple Saturday's ago, I attended a scrapbooking meetup that happens to be based out of my home town and that happens to meet at my local community center.



This particular group is amazing - friendly, funny, generous and informative. Many of the ladies who participate are involved with various stamping, scrapbooking and other home-based businesses. This one in particular provides Cricuts and cricut instruction for anyone who might want to use them. This one also guarantees a lot of space for working and making a big artful mess.




If you have never tried Meet-Up, you should give it a shot.

Its as easy as signing up for an account and then searching the huge list of meet-ups for something that interests you.

The groups generally require very little commitment and you can participate or not as you see fit.

Peace, ya'll!

Friday, August 15, 2014

Card Friday

For 2014, I sort of made a vow to myself to try some new things in the arena of paper crafting.

I've been interested in mixed media and some other things..One of my adventures has been into card making.

Its not a real secret to many people that I am not a card maker...

I'm a card GIVER...

and a card RECEIVER...

a CARD BUYER...

and a card APPRECIATOR (my friend Debbie makes outrageously gorgeous cards and I am blessed enough to be on her Christmas / Birthday card list, so...I sort of view them as tiny pieces of art in an envelope)

BUT I've never really been a card MAKER.

It seems a shame that I love paper crafting so much, don't really make cards - especially if you've ever seen my studio.

The thing that always gets me is how to make a small canvas like a card interesting enough. I just get stuck...How does one make a tiny canvas into anything at all????

Clearly I need instruction and some practice in the basics before I venture into my own territory here.

Enter the Card Kit from Embellish It.

These kits are very much in the vein of my style - not to complicated, very pretty, easy enough, fun enough, challenging enough...and at the end of the day I have some nice cards to share with friends and family.

For the next few Fridays I'm going to show you some of the beautiful cards that I've made using these kits...

DISCLAIMER - I didn't design ANY of these...they are all part of Shelby's awesome kits. For the time being, I'll be making them as instructed in her detailed kit directions. (she has layout kits too if you are so inclined).

I do alter them slightly to meet my own needs if necessary...but for the most part, I just love putting the beautiful things together...these are the first three from my first kit.






Here is my challenge: How could you get something started that you've wanted to try in a way that isn't complicated...that doesn't put a ton of pressure on you?

Take a walk to jump start an exercise program? Maybe buy a kids water-color set to get started painting? Plant a container of flowers to begin a garden? Maybe try a new recipe from the internet? The possibilities of STARTING are endless and you never know how it might end up changing you life.

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Bare Foot

In August, it just seems right to be barefoot. I find liberation in being shoeless - especially in the dead heat of the summer. But even when its cold, I would prefer barefoot to most anything else. 

Take a look at my post over on Inside Out today to see how Liberation and bare feet go together on a layout!


What sort of clothing or style items make you feel liberated? Do you enjoy wearing your hair down or your yoga pants? Is there something you wear that represents your liberation - tennies? earrings? a leather biker jacket? What about body art? What other style things might represent your liberation (or lack thereof)? Your home decor? Your car? Your phone cover? 

I'd love to see what you think of!!

Thursday, August 07, 2014

When I think about liberation, I don't think there is anything more liberating than the world "NO." 

See more about what how I approached the Liberation. Check out the Story Behind the Art at Inside Out. 


Peace, ya'll!

Monday, August 04, 2014

First Pumpkin Patch

Hello, beautiful people!!!

I'm working through some older papers and pictures (as usual...I'm never caught up!) Its been fun to see these sweet pictures of my sweet little...

He LOVES being outside and the running round that a pumpkin patch affords is like heaven for this little boy.

This was the first time he ever went to a pumpkin patch...he thought it both marvelous and a little scary.

Truely he could have stayed at the bean bags all day.



I stumbled across these buttons from Basic Grey while looking for simple embellies...I really do love them. I'm starting to wonder why I haven't used them before. They are just beautiful!



As I work through my old pictures and create layouts I'm struck more and more by how much I love telling the stories of these little  boys. I wonder sometimes if they will have the same memories as I do from these moments. I look forward to the days when we can sift though these layouts and I can hear "Oh, I remember that!" and hear their version of story.

Peace, ya'll!


Friday, August 01, 2014

Liberation

The beautiful new Liberation kit is LIVE over on Scrapbooking From the Inside Out...


This kit is so gorgeous!  I love the retro 70's vibe it has. Its full of Basic Grey Spice Market, Glitz 77, and We R Memory Keepers Indian Summer. There is beautiful American Crafts Cardstock, some Tim Holtz Distress Paint and a Julie Belzer stencil from Crafter's Workshop.

The more I play with stencils (and paint and ink and gesso and gel and spackle and....) the more I enjoy them. I'm rather in love with the beautiful swirly pattern of the one in this kit.

You have to take a look at the inspiration of the design team. There are some amazing projects in there that just make me want to try new techniques and new approaches to using the products in these kits.

I was really struck by how different each of my projects were this month...the kit is VERY versatile.

But more on THAT later!