Love Always Album

     Surprise I made something not nautical, beach, ocean or water related, lol! I've been working on this for a while ( I am soooo slow). Anyways here are the details.
     First I started with Spellbinders Creative Pages by Donna Salazar.This is cut out of Corrugated card board by Zutter. I used Donna Salazar's technique with a combo of paint and embossing powder to create this great background.
     I also made this fabric flower out of satin and added some stickles to the petals. The small flowers are premade out of mulberry paper but, of course they needed some bling. I had just got some of Donna Salazars Fairy Dust. Wow, does this ever sparkle!
     I dug into my stash and found this great ribbon and also a roll of this flower ribbon.

     I can't remember which paper stack I used but some of the smaller pieces are from DCWV girls stack. More satin ribbon but this has a nice picot edge. I also have a nice pack of these pearl flowers from Recollections. The circle on the left is Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities scalloped circle.

     Isn't this paper cool? I love the silver foil effect. I had some silver card stock left over from a previous project so I made a pocket to hold my tag.
     The tag is a shipping tag that I spritzed with glimmer Mist and added a quote from Donna's crafty Chronicle: "A journet is best measured in friends rather than miles.I added this by using Liquid laminate by Beacon. The cute butterfly brad is from a Creative Charms value pack. I also had some rub ons that I had hanging around and used them throughout the book. This one says "I am going your way".

    
          I love to add a little interactive play to my albums and this one is no exception. Here you find a pocket that another tag is hidden in. Again I used Creative Charms, this time a felt flower. The tag inside is so cute. It has a shoe, pearls, shopping bag and purse on the left hand corner.

     This is the back side. Love all those girly things! The right hand side has a picture of a tube of lipstick.
     That's it for now guys. As always thanks for stopping by. ( I hope you enjoyed your visit!).
     BTW, this album is currently for sale in my etsy shop.http://www.etsy.com/listing/79254242/love-always-album

The Shadow Box

     Warning this post is image laiden, lol!!! I wanted you to get the full affect of this project. This used to be a black shadow box however it just didn't go in this newly painted room. I wanted a rustic, weather worn look so I sanded the box, painted it with some white paint. Once it was dry I sanded off several areas and then distressed it.
     The pictures were updated from our recent trip to Florida and several weeks later for our youngest grandson's birthday party. In some ways the pictures involve water.

     I have been collecting sea shells on our many trips to Florida. I am so fair that I burn and get over heated quickly so the only way I survive at the beach is by constantly moving and keeping my body in the water! Some of these shells are from St. Pete Beach, some from Shell Island and some from Venice Beach. This last beach is amazing. The water is a bluish green and the setting reminds me of the Caribbean.
     The shells are adhered with a glue gun and took quite a while to lay them out. I only went around the outside edge. Believe it or not I didn't have enough shells to frame the individual photos!
     I wanted to frame the outside edge with some sort of roping but couldn't find what I wanted so I made my own. I had a skein of cotton yarn so I measured around the frame and added 4 times the length to account for the braiding. I love Beacon's 3-in-1 glue. It grabbed beautifully on this project.

     I even added some shells to add some dimension near the pics.

     This is a sign for the nesting turtles near Venice Beach. Besides the incredible view at this spot you can have great fun sifting for shark teeth. That's right: shark teeth! Next time we go back I'll have to keep some for myself instead of giving them to the grand children. All the ones we found are black!!! I also used a Tim Holtz bottle to add some sand. Please stop me before I get carried away. Hope you enjoyed your visit. As always don't be afraid to leave a comment.

By The Sea

     I'm back!!! So I told you I have been busy with projects. I'm still working on the spare bedroom ( you know, the nautical themed one). I decided to make a wall plaque using a variety of techniques I have learned from my classes @ My Creative Classroom.
     The shape is from Donna Salazar's Creative Book Pages template from Spellbinders. I used Zutters corrugated card board for the base and used Donna's technique using white opaque ink and some white embossing powder. This gives such a cool effect!
      The stamp in from Inkadinkado ( I incorrectly identified this stamp in a previous post). If you want to see the color combos I used with copic markers just check out the post for the Graduate card.
     The tag is a shipping label that I used smooch spritz on and then used Beacons liquid laminate  to attach the quotes from K & Company Sea stack.I made a little pocket out of craft cork that I backed with card stock to give it a little stability. I also found these fish brads hanging around in my brad drawer just waiting to be used, lol.
     I dug into my treasure trove of embellies and found this metal art that says "Best of Times" and a small one in the corner that says " remember". The top of the tag is finished with some cotton cording and a small silver seashell charm.
     I always love to incorporate something of meaning into my art work and this piece is no exception. Do you see the seashell I used for the hanger? This is from a door tag that was on our hotel room door when we visited Hawaii back in the '90's! How this inspires you a little.

Vintage Style Name Plaque

     Well I told you I have been busy lately and this one of the reasons why. My youngest grand daughter is 18 months so it's beyond time to add her name plaque to her room. First of all I covered an 11" x 14" canvas with torn paper for the background that is glued with a gel medium. Next the edges and background were inked with Rangers distress ink. The name letters were cut using Base Camp. The "C" is cut @ 3'' whereas the other letters are cut @ 2 3/4" including the shadows.

     I cut out a floral flourish (say that 3 x fast, lol) and covered with the gel medium again. Once it was dry I added Rangers liquid pearls in platinum and also added a few pearl gems to give it some dimension. The leaves are from a stash that I have that I just sprayed with some smootch spritz. The flowers are by Recollections that is a great brand @ Michaels. The center flower is a sequin from Creative Charms.

     The paper I used is from my favorite company: K & Company the Peabody Scrap Pad. This also included some tags for embellishing so I made good use of them. One of the tags has her full name and birth information. The other tag has printed the info about the Saint she is named after. (Patron Saint of Music and Musicians).  These were also embellished with the liquid pearls.

     The small flowers to "dot: the :i: is cut from ProvoCraft Mothers' Day Bouquet @ 3/4" and also has a pearl for the center. Finally I used a Martha Stewart ribbon to go around the outside edge.
     As a final touch I even backed the canvas. This is so simple yet really finishes the piece off. All you do is cut a piece of kraft paper slightly larger than the canvas. Adhere the paper to the canvas with any type of glue. I love Arlene's Quick Tack. before it dries mist with water. This ensures a nice tight bond. When completely dry, trim with an exacto knife or scissors. Add tooth hangers and you are ready to hang the masterpiece! I am going to add a ribbon hanger to the back so this little girl has her own name plaque.

For The Graduate

   

     We were invited to attend a graduation party for a special young man who graduated from Law School! Can I just say WOW!!! This is my daughter Amy's brother in law. He is so quiet and humble, not at all what you would look at as a lawyer.
     Anyone who follows me regularly knows I have been on a nautical theme lately, lol. I have done the wedding invitations, and some projects for my spare bedroom that I haven't even shared yet. ( Almost done with that one, wait 'til you see!)
     I had this stamp from Hero Arts and thought it was great for the guys around me. I had planned to use it for male birthday cards but thought it would also work for graduation. ( My husband wasn't so sure. What does he know, lol).
     I also wanted to keep up with what I have learned about the Copic markers so I dug them out and started coloring. The image was stamped with tuxedo black by Momento ink. The following is a list of the colors I used.
     boat: E33, E35 and E37
     sails: W1, W3 and W5
     water: B21, B24 and B26
     clouds: C00, C0 and C1
     sky behind the clouds: B91, B93 and B95
     I love using X-Press It for coloring. This card stock is so smooth. After it was colored I die cut it with Spellbinders label. If the background print looks familiar it should, lol. It is leftover from the Nautical invitations I did with the Imagine More cart. The ribbon was also a scrap piece I had hanging around.
     The sentiment is a rub-on from My Sentiments Exactly. These are the best rub-ons because they come with inside sentiments as well and look like they have been printed on the card.

     By the way, the party was wonderful! Thanks for following me and don't be afraid to leave a comment, I don't bite, promise!