Sunflowers and Cowboy Hat Box Card

I love this box card! I purchased the cut file from My Scrap Chick along with many others. I finally decided to make it but couldn't find the instructions. She normally has them on the site, but it wasn’t there.

Now, once I put it together, I decided to add a label to the front so I could decorate it more and put an oval in the back for a greeting.

I made these with my Cricut.

That's ok because I figured it out. It wasn't actually pretty easy. I thought I should film it, just in case I need help later!

So here is the video:

And more photos:

Isn't this fantastic?!?  I can't wait to make more!

Travel Junk Journal Spread

I tried something new in my Junk Journal today. I adhered lots of the random items that I collected from an eight day trip. Lots of JUNK!

I follow a few different people on IG and they adhere junk to their pages usually following a theme. I, of course, needed to art mine up!

Check out the YouTube process video:

Isn't this so fun!?! Even though I didn't originally like the ink blobs, they aren't so bad after all.

Close ups:

Is there really such thing as junk when it turns out this cute?

Bouquet Painting; LTCCB

It's November 1st and time for another six week challenge on the Love To Craft Challenge Blog (LTCCB). This challenge blog is for all sorts of crafty projects not just paper. 

I decided to paint a canvas and create a flower bouquet. It went through a few stages before I finally decided it was done.

Adding black around the flowers made the colors really pop and I was happy with that addition. Here's when I thought I was done and my granddaughter even added some paint splotches.

Wow! What a difference! It just goes to show, if you're not happy with something, keep at it. Eventually you'll love it!

Now it's your turn. Create something...anything and upload it on the LTCCB blog. It's always Anything Goes. Click there for lots of inspiration from the DT and the other crafters!

Thankful Friday 386 and Find Your Beach Event

I am posting this as my TGIF; Thankful Friday post since these sessions were on Friday and I'm so thankful that my school district and previous employer contracts with me to do this. It's a great retirement gig!

I just finished an event for my local school district. I always include some professional development along with the art lesson and this one was about dealing with stress and finding your beach. Not in the sense of a physical place but as a state of mind.

Here's the canvases that I painted:

And some photos of the event:

There were 35 attendees per session and everyone had a great time and made beautiful canvases.

Making Sticker Sheets

Hi there! I watched some sticker making videos during a free craft sessions and I was able to use what I learned to make some stickers for my daughter.

The sessions were hosted by Mimi Jenkinson and they were all very good. Lots of great ideas, information, tips and even some freebies! The tip I used for this project was to use WASHI as the material type when cutting these out. It was perfect!

See how easy they are to create by watching my YouTube video 

Adding Signature in Design Space

As you may or may not know, my mom passed away earlier this year and with some money we received, I decided to treat myself to a BOGG bag. I picked one in her favorite color, purple, and wanted to personalize it more.

I searched for a greeting card that my mom signed and took a picture of her signature. Once I did that, I uploaded it into Design Space.

Watch the YT video on how to do this yourself. 

I love the multi-layer option because it made the image clean up so easy! I also needed to thicken up her signature and using the offset function really helped with that.

The bag is complete and I love it!

September Junk Calendar

So, I did a thing! I saw this idea while scrolling through social media and thought I'd try it for September. You know what I found out...I eat out a lot! I really tried to add things that were not food related LOL

The idea is to create a calendar in the Junk Journal and add a piece of "junk" on each day that match that day's event(s). 

I probably should have decorated the surroundings before adding the junk, but I did mine afterwards and I love it! I don't think I'll do this every month because after a while it loses its quirkiness, but I do like it.

Watch the YouTube video on the daily process and the finishing touches.

Whatcha think? Cool, right?

Do you think this is something you'd try?

Paint for P.R.I.D.E. Event

I've been holding more events so I figured I should have a label for them. 

This was a fun canvas to paint and everyone did a great job personalizing their paintings.

I added the quote once I got home to complete it.

An article from our local paper:

I was very happy and surprised to see this.

Paint Water Cup

I love to go to thrift stores and yard sales to find stuff I can updo. This mug was one of those finds. I love the orange on the handle and inside of it. *

I decided to make it my permanent paint water cup. To do that, I went to the Printable Cuttable Creatables website and found two cut files. One is Artist Painting Easel and Wet Paint Splotches. Wet Paint Splotches is a free cut file. Can you believe it?

After uploading the easel file, I ungrouped the image and only kept the paint brush. I sized everything to my liking and then prepared the mats.

When using vinyl scraps and small cuts, save yourself some time and arrange the different colors onto one mat.

Weed...

Rub the mug with alcohol with a cotton ball or lint free cloth and let it dry before adding the vinyl.

Check out the YT Short for a Quick look at how it was done!

Be sure to use 3SONS15 coupon code for 15% off your order at Printable Cuttable Creatables.

*Note: I used nail polish remover to remove the logo that was on the mug.

Creative Hand; Junk Journal

Hey there! I'm not even sure what to call this but I created a colorful and meaningful opening page in my junk journal. I was inspired by a lesson by Eulalia Mejia who is a mixed media artist that I love.

The first thing I did was pull out random junk papers that had a white background. My favorite is one of my old elementary report cards. Then I painted on them. The next steps can be viewed below.

Using a fine tip applicator and white acrylic paint was so easy. I don't know why I didn't try this before. I have such poor luck when using white pens, this was an easy alternative!

Watch the process video for inspiration:

Christmas Ornament Tag; Jenlee Schoolcraft

Hello! I received a bunch of fabulous goodies from the Jenlee Schoolcraft website to play with. I decided to use this beautiful die set to create Christmas ornament tags.

This die set has two pieces but I'm only using one for this project - the ornament die with a center opening. The first thing I did was cut out one from glittery paper and four from white cardstock using my die cutter for each tag.

Watch the process YouTube video for the visual. So easy and so pretty!

I'm making this into a shaker with lots of sparkly and festive elements. I also dug into my Christmas embellishment stash to use premade banners and poinsettias to decorate!

Instead of using foam adhesive to create the 'well' for the shaker bits, I stacked three cut pieces of cardstock and of course two cut pieces of clear acetate. This is so thick and perfect to hang on the tree or on a gift package.

If you're looking for budget friendly new and gently used crafty supplies, look no further than the Jenlee Schoolcraft website.  And if you use the discount code, Dorlene, you'll get an extra 10% off!

One Smart Cookie; PCC

Hi there! Everyone is back to school in our house and I just had to use the One Smart Cookie cut file from Printable Cuttable Creatables to make a T-shirt for my granddaughter. 

Since PCC's files include one designed for paper and another one for vinyl, I removed the image I didn't use before resizing and don't forget to mirror before cutting!

I used five different color HTVs for the image.

Cut, weed, and press to finish the job!

And a close up:

Printable Cuttable Creatables has so many cute images. After filling your cart, make sure to use 3SONS15 for 15% off your order!

Check out projects on the PCC Blog for lots of inspiration!