21st Century Pillow Book

Greetings! It's time for the July Hump Day Hop! This month, my challenge theme was "Paint the Town." So I wanted everyone to take out their paints and sprays and go nuts! I decided to make a few tags to be later used on other projects. I used a whole bunch of stamp sets for these 3 tags. I used Cherry Bomb , Man's Ruin , Tiki Party , and Girl's Ruin . I started by spraying each tag with sprays from Dreamweaver Stencils and Tattered Angels. Then I stenciled or brushed on some acrylic paint, and ended with stamping the images. Here's a closeup of each tag. I rarely use the devil head, and I thought this was a great opportunity to pull him out. Out of the 3, this is my favorite tag. No stencils were used on this one....just a fan brush to apply the paint. This will be cool on a scrapbook page I think. Now, to have a tiki party...... ;) This tag gave me some trouble. There's actually a car underneath that blue patch of paint. It didn't embo...

Happy Friday! It's time for a new challenge with Dilly Beans . This week, we want you to make a tag, using any dilly Beans image you'd like. Have you been to the shop lately? Megan just added 5 adorable new images, that I'm sure you are going to love! Here's the tag I made. I had so much fun making this tag. I loved coloring the image (her hair was a lot of fun), and I really enjoyed making the background. I colored her with watercolor and alcohol based markers. My sentiment is from Dilly Beans as well. So I have to ask all of you tag makers out there...what do YOU do with your tags once you've made them? Do you give them away? Keep them? Use them on scrapbook pages or as bookmarks? I'm very curious! Would you like to see some more fabulous Dilly Beans tags? Then hop on over to the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the team has come up with. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Hello! I have a fun holiday to share with you today. National Hammock Day! Here's a description via Holiday Insights .  " Summer is in full swing. It's time to slow down and to relax. During the Dog Days of summer (and all of the other summer days, too), there is no better place to slow down and relax, than on a hammock.Hammock Day is appropriately celebrated right in the middle of the Dog Days of summer (July 3 though August 11th.Hammock Day exists to enjoy summer as it should be enjoyed. People celebrate Hammock Day by spending as much time relaxing on it as possible. Getting out of your hammock to get a snack, or your favorite summer beverage is okay. But, it is not a day for work. Cutting the lawn is forbidden on this day." I decided to make a necklace using the lovely focal image from Rise and Shine , and Shrinky Dinks.  I colored her with colored pencils. This is actually version #2. The first one had the full background and banner. I knew the glossy sid...

Hello Bloggy Friends! I am so excited to announce that I am on a new Design Team! There is a brand spankin' new challenge blog, called Chromatic Craze ,and I am thrilled to be a part of it. Started by my good friend Laura, this new challenge blog is going to feature one color challenge per month. It's one of my favorite kinds of challenges! Full details are on the Chromatic Craze Blog . Here is the first challenge's color palette. I looooooove these colors! Teal and purple are my favorite colors. So I was super happy to see that this was our first set of colors. I decided to make a reversible necklace. I found some beautiful wood pieces in the clearance section at Michaels, and I have been itching to use them. I also found some amazing yarn from Martha Stewart (also clearance; but at JoAnns). I don't knit or crochet, but I knew I wanted to use it for jewelry. This is the reverse. I love to make jewelry that can be worn in more than one way. I painted the med...

Hello! It's Friday (thank goodness!) so that means it's time for a new Dilly Beans challenge. This week, the challenge is Glitter and Jewels. Oooooh! Some of my favorite things!!! Look at this little cutie! She reminds me of one of my daughter's friends....and she has bright blue eyes. So I decided to go with blue instead of my typical green eyes. I colored her with Spectrum Noir, Copic and my absolute favorite....watercolor markers. Anyone out there use watercolor markers? What brand do you use? Look at all of the fabulous glitter! The blue and pink/sliver cardstock is from DCWV. It is made with a super fine glitter that does NOT rub off! Love that! Then I used an Ice Stickles (chunkier and more iridescent than regular Stickles) around the border. This is such a fun challenge, and I do hope that you will play along. Please be sure to visit the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog for a look at other sparkle-filled projects. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day...

Greetings! Yesterday on the  Airless Chambers  blog I shared a project featuring the newly released  Steampunk Peg . Today, I have a bit of a softer project using  Emma Hemlock . She is also new and can be purchased only at  I Brake for Stamps . I promised yesterday more color....and that is just what I've given you! I loved coloring this Randi Dandi image. She has such an amazing headpiece on Here is Emma without her background. I colored her using only Spectrum Noir markers. This is another 6x6 mini page. I have quite a collection of these going! I enjoy working on a 6x6 format. Did you notice the beautiful  Damask  print on the orange cardstock? That's one of my favorite stencils from  Dreamweaver Stencils . It is just perfect for Halloween images. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Greetings! Today I am going to share my latest project for Rick St. Dennis . Rick has moved all of his amazing Randi Dandi images over to  I Break for Stamps . Some of my favorite images of Rick's are in this rather large collection, and if you haven't checked them all out, I urge you to do so. I decided to work with one of Rick's newer images,  Steampunk Peg . She is part of the brand new Halloween collection. I made a 6x6 mini page...not quite an art journal page, not quite a scrapbook layout. Isn't she striking? I colored her with Spectrum Noir markers. I used some of the Warm Grays, the Cool Grays, a couple of greens, and the Earth Browns. This was a real challenge for me, as I love to use lots of bright colors usually. But this time, I wanted to go in a different direction. Here is Steampunk Peg without her background, so that you can appreciate the detail in Rick's image. I used a Tim Holtz die for the clock, an EK Success punch for the web, and...

Greetings! It is already the 15th of the month, so that means it's time for a brand new Desert Islands Crafters Challenge . This time around, we are sponsored by Floppy Latte. Here's the itinerary. 1. Non-Traditional X-Mas colors (hot pink, turquoise, lime green, etc) 2.  Paper Rosettes 3. Ribbon 4. Put a Tag on it 5. Put a Tree on it 6. Snowflakes 7. Snowmen 8. Use Paint 9.  Make it a Gift 10. Stars I decided to steer away from this sort of Christmas in July theme. I used #'s 1, 3, 4, 8, and 10. This is the pretty Floppy Latte image that inspired my scrapbook page. I colored it with Spectrum Noir markers. This page is of my kids with my grandmother. We call her Nana, which is Maltese for Grandma. It is so nice that they have my Mom's parents around. They actually live only a mile away, so we can see them pretty much whenever we want. They love each other very much. It's wonderful to see them together. Please be sure to ...

Happy Friday! I am so happy that the weekend is almost here. It's been a tough week for me, so I am looking forward to not having to rush around for a couple of days. I have a new Dilly Beans challenge to share with you. This week, the challenge is "Mermaids," and Megan certainly has some wonderful mermaids for you to play with! I made an art journal page about how I would love to one day swim with fish. You see, I have a terrible fear of water. It's really bad. Swimming pools, oceans, lakes.....ugh. I love to watch the ocean....just sit on the beach or take a walk along the shore, but getting in is always a bit traumatic for me. I hope to one day conquer this fear. I used Ahmea Mermaid #558 for my page. I colored her with my Spectrum Noir markers. For my background, I used a stencil from Stencil Girl , and one from Heidi Swapp. I inked them with Distress Inks. I used Crystal Stickles for some glittery goodness, and my journal says, "One day, I hop...

Hello Bloggy friends! I am excited to share two new projects with you featuring Rick St. Dennis images. The best part? YOU can get these images for free when you visit the Sparkle and Glitter Blog and the Airless Chambers Blog. This is the Summer Faerie, and I love her. she is just so cute!!! I love fairies in general, but this one is fantastic! I loved coloring her, and as soon as I saw her, I knew how I wanted her to look. I was so anal about how I wanted her colored, I had to call my mom who works at one of the craft store chains to pick up the Yellows" set from Spectrum Noir, as I HAD to have them to finish her off! She is colored completely with my Spectrum Noirs. And yeah, even though there is not a lot of yellow on her, It was just what I needed to be happy with the finished image. Now on to my card for Airless Chambers. It features another one of my favorite things....a dragon! This is the Grumpy Dragon. Again, I used my Spectrum Noirs to color him in. I...

Hello! It's Friday, so that means it's time for a new Dilly Beans challenge! This week, we are celebrating Frida Kahlo, who is clearly a huge inspiration for Dilly Beans owner/designer Megan. Here's my creation. If you frequent my blog, you would have read about me finger painting with my little girl. I painted a large sheet of paper, so that I could cut it up into small pieces for my upcoming projects. This is one of those occasions. The card is ultra simple, but my finger painted background is kind of busy, so I opted to not add more "stuff" other than the sentiment, which I thought was very appropriate. I colored this lovely image of Frida with my Spectrum Noir markers. It's hard to tell, but I blended the background using a few of the Turquoises.....my favorite set! Now it's time for you to visit the rest of the gals over at the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog . Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Greetings, cyber friends! I am excited to share Ms. July's Challenge for Bombshell Stamps . Michelle's challenge to us is Red, White, and Blue! Perfect since Independence Day (here in the USA) is tomorrow. I decided to create a fun pair of earrings using the Ahoy Sailor set. I've got to be honest. When I first got this set, I wasn't sure how often I would use it. I'm not really into the nautical thing. But I LOVE this set! If you frequent my blog, you will have seen that I have used it quite a bit since I have received it. It's a lot of fun to work with. Don't be afraid to give it a try! Here's me wearing the earrings, just so that you can see the scale of them. They are definitely shoulder dusters! But that's ok...I love long earrings. I made my little charms using white Shrinky Dink paper. I stamped the images using Memento ink, and colored them with Spectrum Noir and 1 Copic marker. I really need to get the "Reds" set of Spectr...

Happy July! I have 2 projects to share with you today. The first is for the latest Desert Islands Crafters Challenge , and the second is for Week 1 of Bombshell Stamps' Muse Monday. Here's the itinerary for DICC, who is sponsored by Saturated Canary this time around. 1. Let's Go Outside 2. Flowers 3. Step Into It (make a step card) 4. Rainbows 5. Clouds 6. Ribbon or Twine 7. Paper Piecing 8. Emboss It 9. Dies & Punches 10. Metal Embellishment I used Starla from Saturated Canary, and numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 from the itinerary. I LOVE Starla. I colored her almost entirely with Spectrum Noir markers. I had to use green Copics for her top.  My sweet little sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I thought it was pretty perfect for this mini page I made. It's 6x6 in size. Now. On to Bombshell!!!! This month, the featured set for Muse Monday is Tiki Party . Did you know that each month, you can get the featured Muse Monday set...