In Remembrance on Memorial Day

Before barbecues and parades ...
Before hitting the road to beaches and friends...
Give thanks to the men and women of our Armed Forces who are giving their lives...
And have given their lives ...
To protect us.

Painted ATCs

I love painting ATCs. The perfect mix of paint and paper ... and I'm in creative heaven. This batch was fun to do. I used my WISP brush (the largest size) to paint the lines. When I paint on paper with acrylics, instead of using water - I use glaze medium. No buckling!

These are for a quick ATC swap on Urban Scrappers.

Rest In Peace Ms. Horne

Unmounted Rubber Stamp Tip

I have a lot of unmounted rubber stamps, as I am sure everyone else does too. And like everyone else - I have those acrylic blocks that can be kinda pricey.

Well, this afternoon, I was looking for something to use for a rather long border stamp I have. I thought about putting 2 of my acrylic blocks together - when it hit me I had something even better.

A ruler!!!

I have several acrylic rulers that I knew would work ... and of course - when I need one - I can't find it!!! Soooo...I wondered - would a plain ol' wooden one do as well?

Yep!!




And VOILA!!...I added borders to my journal page!!

National Scrapbooking Day_My First Tag Book_LONG POST...Lots Of Pictures

For National Scrapbooking Day, I worked on my first Tag Book. I'd actually finished the basic book earlier this week, but yesterday was spent adding lots of details.

The theme of this tag book was Grunge - so after some quick You Tube and GOOGLE searches, I jumped in. Since my upcoming cross-country trip is on my mind, I decided the theme of my book would be Trips, aptly titled Life Is A Trip.















This was done for a swap on Art For The Creative Mind yahoo group. This group is a swapping group, so there is always something going on. If you want to stretch yourself and swap - this is a group for you.

A tip: For the pockets that held the mini tags - I used manila folders to cut out the pockets. I also managed to cut out 5 large tags from one manila folder .. and I am sure you can get at least 10 smaller tags from one manila folder. So, if you don't' have any tags from the supply store - use a manila folder.

AFTCM Collaborated Book Swap

This most recent swap I participated in was a doozy. Different groups had diff themes, and everyone came away with a book consisting of pages created by different members of that group. All the recipient of the group had to create was the front and back covers, to complete their books.

The theme I chose for my book was, Frogs ~n~ Snails ~n~ Puppy Dog Tails. I fully intended my book to be for boys, as I feel like our boys get the short end of the crafting, paper crafting and decorative art worlds.

I wasn't sure WHAT I would do, but I wanted my book to have that "back in the day" feel ... like the board books I had so many of. Once I received all my pages - I realized I could really make it for my son, and turn it into a journal for him.

Once he saw the pages - he loved it - and he especially loved writing with one of my white journaling pens!!LOL

Now, I'm not going to post the pics of the pages he has already written on - he'd kill me - so I took pics of the pages BEFORE he started his journaling.

I thought all the ladies did a great job with the pages. I added pics that my son chose ... and on those pages, he'll do his journaling.









Front and Back Covers that I did using chipboard, some great patterned paper I had (sorry can't remember who it's by), Anna Griffin ink for the edges, twine and some rings I had. I didn't use my cinch, because there was still one set I hadn't received when I put it together.

Christmas in April

Today has been all about Christmas! I love painting and crafting for Christmas, and find myself painting for this holiday all year round.

I recently joined a ning group devoted to Christmas Cards, which is what I need to keep me ahead of the game so far as cards. Here are two that I finished today:



These cards were really fun to do, and I used papers from Tiare's Classy Pack.

Two other things I painted today were 2 cute little designs by decorative artist Susan Kelley, for an ornament swap - which is also year round!!