AWOL...oops

I tell you, life has been uber crazy lately....It seems like I don't have any time to do anything.  Here it is already August and I feel like the year has flown by!! 

I haven't had much creative time lately, which isn't good because my first craft show is early October and I have nothing done....

I did sell a few things in town...a few domino magnets and some glitter jars....The main item I plan on selling at Oktoberfest are glittered ornaments, but I can't get ornaments yet...  :(  Still looking for them...

Since my last post, I've been to see Elvis with Raine.....

We had a wonderful girls weekend in Memphis....spending one day with the King at Graceland.  This was Raine's first time there, my fourth....We were VIPs there, got a 'private' shuttle across to the mansion and a special exhibit at the mansion.  Never get tired of going to Graceland...It always seems that there is a new exhibit everytime I go there!



Last weekend, I had pit tickets with Alicia to see our favorite band, Rascal Flatts, in Chicago.  One word for this: AMAZING!!  I don't think I will ever get over the experience! 

Talk about close!  Phew!  Alicia even got 'sweated' on by Joe Don....LOL

These are some of my favorite pics from the concert.  These were taken with no zoom used on the camera....Can you believe it?

Well, I'm off to my latest addiction now: the couch for the Olympics...I just can't get enough!!

Hope to get some crafting done this weekend!  Or maybe I will spend another weekend engrossed with Christian Grey....

Laters baby.  ;)

Easter egg coloring....

Hubby wanted to color eggs for Easter...  I haven't done this in years, but we had a lot of fun.....

 So we completely tore out our front garden today and we're both dog tired.....Completely ripped out the garden, laid down weed barrier, and then lava rock gravel.  We originally bought 10 bags of rock, then had to go buy 15 more bags, and that wasn't enough either....ugh....so off to Wal-Mart for 5 more bags.....

We finally got it completely done at 7pm...just in to go pick up the pups from the groomer....They got their first haircuts and look how cute they are....

They have Easter egg stickers on their foreheads....LOL

This girl is off to bed.  Everyone have a Happy Easter!!

Something new....

Hubby and I have decided to try out our green thumbs this year.  So we went to the store and bought a mini greenhouse and some seeds.  We got uber-hot peppers (habanero and jalapeno), sweet bell peppers, mint, tomatoes, and cucumbers.   We planted the seeds last week and now look at them:

The massive seedlings at the top of the screen are the cucumbers.  They sprouted up first and everything else is slowly trailing behind them.  We have no growth as of yet on the mint, which is highly unusual as it seems like that stuff can't be killed.

Once the seedlings are ready, which should be in about 4-6 weeks, we are going to make a mini garden out in our backyard where the pups can't get to.  So hopefully this summer we'll have fresh veggies to use.  We'll see how green our thumbs really are.

Off to bed....

A sign....

My creative mojo has been really flowing lately....Not sure if it is my sudden lack of ability to sleep or what, but I guess it's not such a bad thing.  I've got all my classes done from now through June....LOL

Been messing around with Distress Stains a lot lately...Really love how they work on wood....It's nice to be able to get a great background color on the wood without having to break out the acrylic paints....And the best thing: it takes one coat....no sanding or sealing of the wood necessary!

Here is my latest result of dabbling with Distress Stains:

This wooden sign was based with Walnut Stain Distress Stain.  I used the Fanciful Flight die to make the butterfly.  The butterfly's top layer was made with grungepaper and the bottom layer was cut from a manilla tag.  The bottom layer was inked with Distress Inks in various colors and assembled with the top layer.  Then I filled in all of the 'wing spaces' with Rock Candy Distress Stickles.   This gives the wings an almost transparent effect. Pretty cool huh?
 


 
I really love the new Word Bands from Tim Holtz Idea-ology line.  This Word Band was rubbed with Pearl Paint Dabbers to make the letters stand out.   The Word Band was adhered to the sign using Matte Medium and hemp twine.  This twine has been my go-to embellishment lately.  I love it because it matches just about anything.  I love this twine so much that I decided to order it in black last week...  LOL


Thanks for stopping by....

A layout....

I have been getting quite a lot accomplished in the Scrap Cave since I've reorganized it.  Here's the most recent one:

This layout is from our Gatlinburg vacation last October.  We had our 4 year old nephew with us and he loved to play putt-putt (or as he called it "golf-golf").  I used the Bo Bunny Grease Monkey collection, some Thickers, and some bright blue cardstock.  (Grease Monkey was one of my faves from Bo Bunny released a few years ago.)  All of the stickers from Bo Bunny were dusted with powder to remove the adhesive and pop-dotted to five a little dimension.




I realized after completing this layout that I have about 20 more pictures of 'golf-golf' to scrap.  (The boy really liked to play golf when we were down there. LOL)

Meanwhile, while I was scrapping, Simba kitty decided to come and help me scrap....Here's some pictures of my little assistant.  As you can see, he likes to get right in the middle of my work area and 'sun' himself under my Ott Lite....


Well, going to watch some 'An Idiot Abroad' before the pizza gets here.

Another day, another tag....

I'm having a lot of fun making these wooden tags....This one is based with Fired Brick and Wild Honey Distress Stains and allowed to dry.  Then, using the Wallpaper stamp from Tim Holtz CMS126, I embossed the background with gold WOW! embossing powder.

Next, using tissue tape and a cardstock circular base, I created a rosette.  Then, I used some Adornments from the Ideaology charm pack.  To make them match my background, I colored them with gold alcohol ink.  I adhered the wings and crown to the rosette using a strong adhesive such as Studio Matte Medium or Glossy Accents.  A Fractured Doll was adhered on top of the wings and crown.  Once the embellishments were set, I inserted a memo pin and distressed Adage ticket (inked with Peeled Paint) behind the rosette and adhered the entire circle to the tag.  I finished off the tag with some green lace and a crystal bauble.

Want to learn more about Distress Stains?  Look for a class or two being offered at my LSS in the next couple of months!  In the meantime, happy scrappin'!!  :)

Just messing around....

Finally getting to where I can focus in the scrap cave so I did so messing around with some wood tags, powders, and stains....

The first tag is based with Weathered Wood and Bundled Sage Distress Stain and allowed to dry.  Then, using the Wood stamp from stamp set CMS126, I embossed the image onto the tag using brown embossing powder.

Taking pieces of the foliage, I embossed them with various embossing powders (white, purple, green, and orange) and allowed them to cool.  The green powder was Metalline Green from WOW! and is one of my new favorite embossing powders.  Using an ornate plate and an adage tag, I assembled the title and adhered it to the tag using Matte Medium.  Then, I adhered the foliage to the tag with the Matte Medium.

This tag was finished off using May Arts twine, which is one of my new favorite, go-to embellishments.   I love this stuff and it comes on a 400yd roll!!  :)



Off to the Scrap Cave for another go round....  :)

Absent....

I have been absent from the blogging world for 2 months!  EEEK!  Lots has happened in those two months....My dear aunt was hospitalized for about 5 weeks.  They still aren't completely sure what was wrong but I'm happy to say she is recuperating in a rehab facility now.  (And back to her spirited self, I might add...) 

I've been quite the traveler so far this year...Two trip to West Virginia to see my aunt, a trip to Chicago to see the bestie, a work trip to Las Vegas, and numerous trips to Columbus....And that's just the beginning of my travels this year!  I am definitely going to get some frequent flyer miles this year!

I got a Kindle in January and let me just say I ADORE this little gadget.  I've read more since I have had the Kindle than before..  (And it proved to come in very handy on the plane to Vegas and in the waiting room of the hospital!)  It's so easy to get addicted to the e-books!  And it's so great that I can carry the thing in my purse wherever I go!!




I've also been attempting for like the millionth time to reorganize the Scrap Cave...  It's not really conducive to crafting (especially since I have to share it with the hubby and his XBox...ugh).  So I bought a few more plastic drawer sets and a shelving unit.  We've kind of begun to block of my little area from the rest of the room and so far it's looking good.  It's now just a matter of putting stuff back where I can find it and reach it.   I got a cool little ink tower as a gift to store all my precious Distress inks.  This thing is SO cool.  It holds all 42 distress inks and reinkers as well as a few Distress Stains... and the best thing: it has flaps to cover the inks so it can be transported!!!!  Woohoo!!! I no longer have to take 3 baskets to get all my inks to a location!!  :)

Well, it's late and the pup's snoring so I think that's my cue to hit the sack!!  Nighty night!

An altered canvas....

I did this canvas for work and I have to say I just love altering things....I was given a kit to make a sample for and this is what I came up with....

The kit contained a selection of papers from the 7 Gypsies Lille collection, bottle caps, a yard of Prima lace ribbon, and a bottle of Stickles....

To be honest, this was my first experience with bottle caps....It took we a while to figure out what to do with, but I'm rather pleased with the result....

We're off to Chi-town tomorrow for a visit with one of my besties.....I'm uber-excited as I haven't seen her since July!! 

Happy Scrappin!!

Happy New Year!

Five days into the new year!  Happy 2012 everyone!  Lots of ideas for new projects this year.  Starting in February, I will be teaching a Tim Holtz technique class every month at the Scrapbook Outlet so I need to start prepping for that....It's always hard to get in the swing of classes every year, but it's so fun.

While trying to get into the creative mood, I created this little card using some Distress Ink, Tim Holtz Stamps, and Hero Arts Stamps.  It's along the same lines as the card I posted last month, but a change on the colors.  I always have problems making sympathy cards and this one seems to be suiting for such an event.  I think I might even do a class on this sometime.  Maybe quite a few cards....I always like to take a class when you have a lot to take home...  :) And there's nothing better than a quick card....So maybe this class will be fast-paced with quite a few cards being made....focusing on simple techniques that can be reproduced in quantities in little time.  The problem will be keeping all the stamping within the two stamp sets.  The Hero Arts set has multiple sentiments so it won't be a problem....I'll have to see how many different backgrounds I can come up with using the Tim Holtz set!  I have some new Spellbinders on the way so maybe that will help matters a little bit!!  :)

Well, hopefully this weekend I will get my Scrap Cave sorted back to where it was pre-Christmas...  It's a disaster in there right now!!  Hubby got me an Ott-lite for Christmas and I haven't had a chance to use it just yet.  Super excited about this light!  I use them at my scrapbooking retreat in Michigan and love the light they produce!  In the Scrap Cave, the light is not very bright and I sometimes have troubles seeing different shades of colors.  I'm sure this light will help a TON!

Well, I need to go warm up with a cup of coffee and finish watching my shows on TV....

Happy Scrappin!