Christmas Blessings 26

Hi! Hope you are all enjoying the magic of the holiday season! I'm here to share a few Christmas inspired projects. First up is a card that I made for my dear daughter Angie featuring a variety of PTI stamps including: Spruce & Sprigs, Signature Christmas and Vintage Linens:

I'm joining along with this month's PTI Create Along With Us Release Week challenge and was inspired by Dawn's pretty card shown below:

and for color inspiration, I was inspired by this week's Color Throwdown challenge:

Up next is my first attempt painting a poinsettia using oils on an 8" x 10" canvas surface:

I'm linking my painting to the current Paint Party Friday post:

We recently went on vacation visiting New York City and Washington D.C. in celebration of my sweet husband's birthday. Here's the beautiful scene in Rockefeller Center:

Shown below is a photo of Scott standing beside a replica of the stunning star tree topper (above):

It's been over 20 years since I visited D.C. and many things have changed. Not only beautiful new monuments and museums but a whole lot of additional blockades accompanied by U.S. Secret Service Agents. Shown below is a photo of the U.S. White House:

and here's a photo of our nation's capital building:

On display at the U.S. Botanic Gardens, are miniature replicas of many of the D.C monuments made 100% from plant materials!  

Loved the beautiful pots of poinsettias in the Gardens:

Many thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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ART 45

Hi there! I hope you are having a great weekend so far! Today I have a layout to share featuring a photo of a gorgeous work of art that was taken in the Louvre museum while we were vacationing in Paris:

For color inspiration, I joined along with the September Prima Product Pick challenge:

I combined fun patterned papers from the Prima Cartographer collection along with several Prima Trinkets and a variety of Prima flowers:

To add additional interest to the background, I used a Prima stamp and a Prima stencil along with various paints and embossing enamel:

I topped the layout off with Prima crystals:

For sketch inspiration, I joined along with the Scrap Africa challenge. I'm also entering this layout in the current Craft Hoarder's Challenge where the theme is All The Pretty Flowers:

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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Friendship 34

Hi there! I'm all unpacked and settled in after returning home from teaching at the very first MFT retreat / workshop in Eustis, Florida. The event was so well organized and ran quite flawlessly which is not surprising because Kim runs a tight ship and does not do anything less than first class! It was great to catch up with friends and make many new ones :) I'm hoping it becomes an annual event and I hope I'm invited to be part of it again! Based on from what I gathered, all the participants were very pleased with the classes and thrilled with their swag bag that was JAM packed with MFT goodies!

Monday morning, my sweet friend Sue Lelli picked me up at the Orlando airport and drove me back to her home near Tampa, where I stayed until Tuesday evening. We had so much fun! We had lots of retail therapy both crafty and non-crafty, we stayed up until nearly 3 am creating, and we went to the beach on Siesta Key, where we walked for miles and played in the sand. Needless to say, I slept all the way home on the flight to Phoenix! We had someone take our photo next to a gorgeous sandman that someone had made for all to enjoy! ;)

I made this small hanging for Sue expressing my gratitude for her amazing hospitality and sweet friendship :) The girl featured on the tag was made using a stamp I purchased while shopping with Sue who couldn't quite see how I would put her to use. I hope she likes her now that the image is more than a line drawing on a piece of rubber! 

I added texture to the background using the MPD Square Motif stencil and fiber paste. Once dry, I spritzed on homemade mist made using MFT Blue Raspberry mist. 

I stamped a sentiment from MFT Sew Nifty on a die cut made using Die-namics First Place Award Ribbon Die.

To create the girl, I stamped the image several times on various pieces of cardstock, colored using various markers, paper pieced her outfit and headband, adding a strip of cloth lace under the bottom hem of the dress. Once everything was adhered, I randomly stamped the chicken wire image from MPD Distressed Background Blocks. 

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great day / evening!

Be Sweet ;)

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Trip Of A Lifetime...MFTSCRAP7 38

Hi there and Happy Earth Day! It's time for a new MFT scrap sketch challenge! For complete details on how you can join along, please visit the MFT blog. 

Here's the fun sketch we are playing with:

For my sample, I scrapped several photos of Scott as well as the iconic London Eye that were taken a few years ago while Scott and I were on a trip visiting London. I've combined a variety of MFT products including various MFT stamps, Die-namics dies, MFT buttons and inks.

Once I created the background using Golden Crackle Paste and MFT Blu Raspberry Ink, (tutorial shown below), I was all set to embellish the layout. All the photos and main sentiment were mounted on beautiful Factory Green cs then layered on a tag made using  a Die-namics Traditional Tags STAX die. Starting in the upper left corner, I stamped a sentiment from LLD Document It - Expand Your View on a die cut tag made using Die-namics Traditional Tags STAX and finished added a Natural button that was coated with a layer of embossing enamel.

This tag features a photo of Scott standing in front of the Kensington Palace. The pocket watch was made using an image from Inspired By Time stamped using Factory Green ink. Once stamped, I cut it out, applied Kraft ink around the edges then applied a coat of Ranger Rock Candy. 

The tag in the upper right corner features a sentiment from DC Vertical Greetings II along with a canvas flower embellishment made using Die-namics Layered Rose, Kraft and Blu Raspberry Ink (tutorial shown HERE).

The next tag features a fun sentiment from LLD Document It - Captured Memories along with a lock and key that were made using Die-namics Keys and Locks.

In case you were curious to know how I created the background, I took a few photos to show you just how easy it is:

First I applied a thin coat of Golden Crackle Paste. (I put it outside in the sun to speed up the drying time ;). I've learned the hard way, if you use your heat tool to speed up the drying time be very careful not to overheat as the pastes will bubble and make a mess! 

Once dry, the cracks appeared then I made some mist with a few drops of Blu Raspberry Ink. Super easy!

The cracks remind me of the desert floor that can be seen here in AZ ;) Happy Earth Day!

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope enjoyed my layout :) If you found the tutorial helpful, please feel free to let me know.
Be Sweet ;)

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Muir Woods and a publication 26

Hi there! I hope you are all having a great weekend! Scott and I are having a great time visiting Jerry in San Francisco :) Yesterday we went hiking in the breath taking Muir Woods National Monument park. We actually got lost because we took the wrong turn and our 2 hour hike turned into a 5 hour hike but it was well worth it! Today we are going to rent bikes and ride around the Golden Gate State Park. 

Here are some photos from our hike yesterday: 

My boys ;)

 Jerry and I :)

 560+ acres of these magnificent California Redwoods:

 Some beautiful wild flowers along the trail:

 I'm very honored and excited to share with you my first mixed media mini album that I recently had published in the awesome Northridge Publishing Create: Mini Album Series. Surely I sound like a broken record BUT I truly believe having something published for a crafty girl is like winning the paper crafting lottery! If you want to see some beautiful projects of all sorts, please be sure to check out some of the MANY Northridge Publishing magazines! 

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! I will be back at Midnight Eastern, April 15th to share some fun MFT projects ~ hope to see you then!
Be Sweet :)

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