I picked out these awesome building digis from The Stamping Boutique back in August and colored them up with a slew of Copic colors in shades that reminded me of 50’s small towns and malt shoppes (sorry I can’t remember the colors; it’s been so long since I colored them up).

I created the background base with some old papers from the Dear Lizzy Neopolitan collection, the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection, and the Heidi Grace Designs Daydream collection, using Mod Podge and DecoArt Americana Decoupage Matte glue sealer finisher as the adhesives (both worked well, but I found the DecoArt product was thinner and dried faster).

I used the DecoArt Dimensional Effects paintable texture paste with the Tim Holtz Bricked stencil to add texture to the sky background that reflected the brick of the buildings. The texture was really highlighted when I mixed up some DecoArt fluid acrylic paints in cobalt blue and titanium white, brushed it on and then wiped it off with a baby wipe.

To help pop out some book paper hearts that I had decoupaged on as well as the building digis that I had worked so hard to color, I used a black Faber-Castell PITT artist pen to outline the images and then softened the outline with a water-dampened Q-tip. I also used a white Faber-Castell PITT artist pen to further highlight the book paper hearts and the relief of the stenciled brick areas.

This art journal page was done in a dozen or more parts over several months, but I’ve edited it down to the following process video:

This art journal page is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Inspired By A Song Challenge – WINNER
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Something New Challenge
MarkerPOP Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Through The Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Girls Creations Anything Goes Challenge
Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge
Paper Sweeties Inspiration #40 Color Challenge — pinks and purples of roof of house

The video below includes a process video so I won’t go into all the details here, but I wanted to share my favorite parts of this layout. Besides the pictures that really captured the happy feelings of this vacation, my favorite items on this layout are the pleated trim that I created using some crepe paper party streamers and the real sea shells and faux starfish that I think add fun dimension.

Hopefully this starfish is not too thick to fit into a layout sleeve in my album; I did sand down the starfish with a jeweler’s metal file (knocking down about 1/2″) and white washed the starfish to give a cohesive look afterwards.

The following is a process video share of this layout:

This LO is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Yellow Challenge

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a happy crafty day! WOOF

This vacation at St. George Island, FL was so warm and wonderful. We had a glorious time walking along the shore, and this layout shows Bandito’s first time off leash at the beach!  He absolutely loved it. At first my hubby walked him out onto the sand on leash. Then when Bandito seemed a little calmer he unclipped him. The pictures of Bandito running around in what we call the Havanese Hurricane mode were all blurry, so I had to settle for getting a shot of him completely spent smiling into the sun by the water’s edge.  This is a fantastic memory for me and I’m so glad I was able to scrap it into this layout.

I decided to do a grid layout and had some fun using papers and cut-aparts from the Dear Lizzy Neopolitan collection and the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection along with various little scraps of paper from my scrap box. The mesh I got to play with added great texture and somehow seemed to lend a fishing/seashore quality.

I tried so many different patterned papers, but in the end I thought the teal of the sky reflected in the sentiment that says “LET THE FUN BEGIN” and the little scraps along with the cheery yellow in the yellow polka dot paper added a great sunny feeling to the neutral background papers.   In lieu of sequins or bling scatter, I also had fun hot gluing on some small sea shells from an old necklace.  I thought they complemented the beach theme nicely without adding too much bulk (sometimes I add so much bulk that my layouts won’t fit into a scrapbook album).

The following is a process video showing the creation start-to-finish:

This layout is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Let’s Get Sentimental Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Yellow Challenge

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful crafty day! WOOF

A fantastic LO maker/crafter in the UK, Nancy (YT: Kitty Scrapper) is hosting a challenge celebrating her 30th birthday and reaching over 1000 subbies! What a fabulous way to enter ones 30’s right?!  She seemed a bit nervous about what her 30s would bring, and I wanted to assure her that they can be FABULOUS!

My thirties brought me my wonderful hubby, my two adorable dogs, a fantastic consulting career that I do on my own terms, and a great feeling of always being wrapped in love. How did this happen? I started to focus less on work and more on my family and friends. According to happiness studies, the happiest people in the world are not the richest; they are those who have a community and a feeling of support and love. I feel so blessed by the fantastic crafty community that I am a part of (although this came just last year–well into my 40s).

This PL card features my latest free digi, “BFF Huggles” and the girls can be friends, sisters, or even a mom and daughter. 🙂 I tweaked the image for Nancy by adding glasses to one of the girls, but otherwise the image is just colored with Copics and paper pieced (I added shadows with Copic C3). Glossy Accents add some shine to their shoes and the glasses, and the fun wood veneers are from a Christmas Studio Calico set.  I cut off the pointy part of the speech bubbles, used a black Sharpie to color the edges uniformly, and colored the fronts up with green and gold Sakura gelly roll pens. The background paper, which has a fun distressed and painterly feel is from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection from American Crafts.

Hope you all like this latest free digi. Thanks for stopping by! WOOF!

This is also being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

I was recently perusing a back issue of a scrap booking magazine (gifted to me by my friend Laura (YT: Littleluluscraps)) and there was a whole article about remembering oneself and valuing oneself enough to scrapbook things that are important to you–your passions, likes, dislikes, etcetera. I resolved to at least try to make 1 page every month.  That shouldn’t be too hard right? We’ll see. 🙂

This page is about my latest passion, this blog! I took hours designing the heading and the images are some of the first digis I created (some in projects next to the digi sketch). I used Dear Lizzy Neapolitan and Amy Tangerine Sketchbook papers, a little blue mist spray (to connect the background to the blue layers and flowers), spring colored acrylic flowers with bling centers, and some extra rhinestone blings to decorate this simple but bright and cheerful layout.

This LO with the acrylic spring flowers is being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
This LO with the blue misted background about Myself is being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
This LO with the acrylic spring flowers is being entered into the One Sweet Challenge for May

Thanks for stopping by! Please subscribe if you wish, and have a great day! WOOF

Well, now that I have been part of the community for about 9 months, I have had an incredible number of beautiful creations sent to me, whether as entries to challenges I hosted or RAKS or Happy Mail. In reflecting about my birthdays for a challenge hosted by a YT friend, Maureen (YT: Scrappin Maureen), I decided I would make a layout about this phenomenon and my great fortune in crafty love.

The main picture on the layout is of a huge book shelf filled with all the incredible creations I have received from crafty Youtube friends.  I have been blessed, and I am so thankful for having joined YT and making such wonderful friendships. I feel as though I have found MY people–kindred spirits. And now I can’t imagine life without being part of this wonderful community.

The layout was made with papers and cut outs from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook pad, the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan pad, and the Heidi Grace Daydream pad. The zentangles on the layout and the coordinating 4″x6″ Project Life (PL) style card were gifts from my friend Judy (YT: JuJu Pem) — aren’t they amazing! The free digital image I colored and used in both the layout and the coordinating  card is Pure Innocence.

The following is the video sharing the layout and card:

The PL style card with the washi tape is also being entered into the Ribbon Carousel Blog Third Birthday Challenge
The layout and PL card aboug happy MAIL is being entered into the Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge
The layout and PL card with Pure Innocence holding spring flowers is being entered into the Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge
The layout with the polka dot papers and striped background on the Polaroid cut out is being entered into the Paper Crafting Journey Spots and Stripes Challenge
The LO and PL card with the Pure Innocence image with the flowers and the zentangle with flowers is being entered into the One Sweet Challenge for May

Thanks for stopping by! Please subscribe if you wish, and have a great day. WOOF