Pond Life

Hello friends~  I'm just popping in with a card I made using The Pond Postage Collage stencils from Waffle Flower.  There are so many on the market today, it's hard to keep up.

 

 

 I chose to use muted colors for this card.  Keeping things calm in my craft room.

 

 

 I didn't add a sentiment as I thought the card was busy enough on it's own.

 

 

Wishing you all a safe and happy Memorial weekend.  May we always remember those who've made the ultimate sacrifice.

I'll be entering this card into the following challenges:

Stencil Fun ~ Optional theme of "bouquets", which I did not use.

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

Just Us Girls ~ Stencil Week

Thanks for stopping by!

Collecting Specimens From The Garden

It's September already.  The summer flew by!  The leaves are already starting to turn color here on the east coast and the flowers in my gardens are showing off their final signs of glory for the season.  

Earlier this spring, I collected some flower heads from the gardens and pressed them in a book.  I left them in the book for about 10 days to make sure they were well pressed and dried.

I collected Johnny Jump Ups, Jonquils, Geum, Bleeding Heart, and more.  I scavenged the yard for wild flowers as well.  Here they are, all flattened and dried.  Now, what to do with them?

The Tim Holtz Specimen dies were just what I needed to create slides using the flowers I had collected and will next be made into cards.  

I stamped the slides randomly with field label stamps that I have collected from Tim Holtz, Spellbinders and other various companies.  

It will bring me great joy sharing these collected earthen treasures with others when I give them a handmade card.

I will sit in my craft room when the weather is cold and snowy and be able to create love in a card with the flowers from my spring garden.

Even now, they bring me joy just flipping through them.

I added recycled acetate to the window portion of each slide to protect the flowers.

The long slides are from Elizabeth Craft Designs Planner Dies, Film Slides.  

This is one of my favorites.  The flowers pressed so perfectly.

....or maybe this one is my favorite.

I needed a place to store the slides, so I made this little box using Elizabeth Craft Designs Book Box.

It has a magnetic closure, to which I added a chunky vintage button.

I had so much fun making these specimen slides using natural resources from the garden.  I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them.

I'll be entering these into the following challenge:

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

Simon Says Monday Challenge ~ Recycle It

Cut It Up ~ Anything Goes

Creative Artiste Challenge ~ Anything Goes Mixed Media

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Stamp It

Thanks for stopping by!

Botanical Mushrooms

Hello friends~  I'm popping in with a quick post with a card I made for the Color Hues challenge, where the colors are red & green. 

That color combination does bring to mind Christmas as my first thought, but I wanted to see what I could come up with that wasn't Christmassy.   

These mushrooms from Pinkfresh Studio were sitting on the space where I keep my NBUS and they fit the bill perfectly.  Since this is the first time they've seen ink, I think I'll add this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as well.

They fit well inside this bottle from Spellbinders, from one of the past Large Die of the Month sets.

I'll be adding this to the following challenges:

Color Hues ~ Red & Green

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes

NBUS Challenge ~ #64

Thanks for stopping by!

Flower ~ Mixed Media Monday

Hello friends ~ It's time for Mixed Media Monday once again so I'm here to share an entry that I recently did in my Garden Journal.  

This page came together fairly quickly, since I didn't use a lot of mediums on this.

Keep in mind, the pages in my Garden Journal measure 4 1/2" x 6 1/2", so slightly larger than an A2 sized card.  I had this beautiful floral image that I found in a Junk Journal Collection on Amazon, and I didn't want to cover it up too much. 

In Focus:

 After  collaging the floral image onto the page in my journal, I found a page from a dictionary that I ripped into small pieces and added distress ink to all the edges.  I used those pieces to collage a frame around the entire flower image.

I did some random stamping using stamps from Stampers Anonymous Field Notes, and then added some Flea Market Finds ephemera elements from Spellbinders Coat Check Miscellany.  The gold washi flower is from Pinkfresh Studio's Garden Bouquet Washi.  

This design would look great on the front of a card as well, don't you think?

The Junk Journal Kit from Amazon has so many beautiful papers in it, just like this one.  I think I might make a set of all occasion cards using them.

 

I'll be adding this art journal page to the following challenges:

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Here's a list of products I used and where you can find them:

Junk Journal Collection on Amazon
Stampers Anonymous Field Notes
Flea Market Finds
Spellbinders Coat Check Miscellany
Pinkfresh Studio's Garden Bouquet Washi

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journal Using Limited Supplies ~ Mixed Media Monday

Hello friends,  I'm writing this post from sunny California!  I'm staying at my son and daughter-in-loves house until June.  I flew out the end of April, to come and babysit my sweet little "P" until her mama gets out of school in June.  

I shipped a large flat rate box of craft tools and very few supplies so that I could get my craft on while I'm here, but I realized right away that I did not have much to create with.  I only had one stamp set that was for a design team project but I can't share that card with you until later. 

 So, I hopped on Amazon and found this super cute, all in one kit in a vintage style, which you know I love.  

The kit came complete with an art journal, pretty botanical printed papers, die cut ephemera and vellum stickers.  Now, I've never used vellum stickers before and I've just discovered that I love them!  They have a translucent look to them, that gives them a little halo look around the image.

I also purchased a clear botanical stamp set that will get lots of use in my art journaling when I return home.

I had no distress oxide inks and no blending tools, no stencils or other mediums so the page is pretty basic.  But it still gave me plenty of joy creating it and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

If you haven't seen me commenting on your blog for a bit, now you know why.  My computer time is very limited, as I am here for sweet "P" and the computer can wait.  I'll try to play catch up, as well as I can, when I can.  Until then, I'll try to share the few things I'm making.  I had a sweet visit and a surprise from a friend, which I'll share in a later post.  

I'll be adding today's project into the following challenges:

The Card Concept:  Garden Birds

Triple B: May Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Journal ~ Mixed Media Monday

Happy Mixed Media Monday friends!  Today's mixed media offering was made in my Garden Journal.  I enjoy working outside in my flower gardens, getting my hands dirty and while it's still too cold and frozen to do so here on the east coast, I can continue playing with paper flowers inside where it's always sunny and warm.  

The Garden Journal is a handmade book that I made a few months ago and my plan is to keep all the entries garden themed, while my Create Happiness art journal is all about God's Word and His promises.

I did quite a bit of inking on the background using DOX inks, stamping background images using stamps from the Create Happiness line of clear stamps.  I recently purchased some Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish and thought I'd give it a try on this page.

You can see the gilding polish better in this close up photo above the ticket.  I love the sheen it gives, and the fact that it looks aged is a bonus.  The die cut frame, flowers and ticket are all from the Curators Botanical collection from 49 & Market.  I added more stamping using Sign Here Stamps from Spellbinders Flea Market Finds collection.

The image of the boots and flowers is a free printable that I found years ago online.  

Here's a list of products I used today:

Entire Line of Create Happiness
Spellbinders Flea Market Finds
49 & Market Curators Botanicals
Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish

Thanks so much for joining me today.  If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you.

Hugs~ 

Vintage Botanicals ~ Mixed Media Monday

Hi friends!  Today's Mixed Media Monday offering is in the form of cards.

I recently purchased this beautiful 6x8 collection from 49 and Market called Curators Botanical.  I was completely smitten as I flipped through the different designs of these high quality, heavy cardstock double-sided patterned papers.  

 For each card, I did a bit of stenciling on the patterned paper, using a Cathe Holden Layered Vintage Floral Stencil from Spellbinders.  I also stamped some images using Tim Holtz Field Notes Cling Stamps.

The Specimen Dies from Tim Holtz sold out so fast!  I was lucky enough to find this one at Scrapbook.com, and I couldn't wait to use it.  The flower is printed on acetate.  I found quite a good selection on Amazon.  I glued the flower to the specimen slide that I cut using papers found in my scrap box.  I distressed the edges and added more stamped images from the Field Notes collection.

Both cards are the same in design style, but I chose to add a butterfly to this card.

I added strips of kraft washi tape to each of the cards to look like the slides were added many years ago.  I added a bit of distress ink to the edges of the tape to add to the aged look.

 

I'm so happy with how these cards turned out.  

 Here is a list of products I used today:

Thinlit Specimen Dies
Curators Botanical 6x8" Collection Pack
49 and Market
Cathe Holden Layered Vintage Floral Stencil
Entire Flea Market Finds Collection
Field Notes Cling Stamps

Thanks for stopping by!