Free Printable Background Stamp and a Simple Twinkling H2O Card

I've been a busy bee today in the craft room, but decided to finish on a simple note by creating this watercolor card using Twinkling H2Os.  This awesome freebie background image is available to download at STAMPlorations HERE.  I paired it with a beautiful sentiment from Graciellie Design (click link in sidebar) that I had printed previously and didn't use.  I just love how these watercolors pool and dry with a metallic accent.  Thanks STAMPlorations for a fun freebie project!  I enjoyed doing something simple for a change.  :)

I'm sharing with:

STAMPlorations: Color Blooms Linky Party

Use Your Stuff: Watercolor (I've had these H2Os for ages)

Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes

A Bit More Time to Create: Anything Goes

Crafts and More: Anything Goes w/Option of Autumn

Crafts Galore Encore: Anything Goes

Delicious Doodles: Orange and Brown

Mixed Media Canvas Art with Personal Photos

I am just so excited to share our latest challenge at Anything But Cute with you.  Our amazing hostess Branka has chosen the theme Friendship.  She says, "Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. We want you to show us a mixed media creation that's inspired by friendship. You can create anything, from tags to art journal pages but make sure it's a mixed media piece. Let's celebrate friendship together!"  

Before I share the details of my project, let me just say how thankful I am for the friendship I've found in this team.  These girls are so important to me and I am so thankful to share their friendship and artistic inspiration.  <3

I found this uniquely shaped canvas at Michael's and decided to do an "off the page" wall art project.  I created my background by applying stencil paste through a Prima damask stencil, then pooling and splashing watercolors over it.  I embellished with Prima flowers, a Prima doily die, ribbon, twine, and a Tim Holtz word die.  What a simple project!  If you’re new to mixed media this would be a great starter project!  Either way, I hope you’re inspired to play along with our challenge by creating a mixed media project with the friendship theme.

I was inspired to create a gift for my BFF, Trish.  Trish came to the first day of kindergarten crying and was only consoled when she looked up and saw a familiar face, mine!  She and I had been in vacation Bible school together that summer.  Though I was too young to remember either of these events, my life is filled with memories of our great friendship.

She has been my best bud through thick and thin and has always been there for me.  We’ve spent our entire lives together and are more like sisters than friends.

I'm also sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: Anything Goes

Prima BAP: September Sketch

Frilly & Funkie: Floral Infatuation

Emerald Creek Dares: Anything Goes

Retro Kraft Shop: #17 Anything Goes

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Printable Wedding or Encouragement Card and Giveaway

Today I am happy to share my latest project with you featuring Graciellie Design’s newest release, Words of Hope.

You all know how much I love creating chalkboard images and I couldn’t resist doing that again with this fabulous floral image.  To turn your image into chalkboard art, simply open with Microsoft Paint.  Right click on the image and select “Invert Color.”  I fussy cut this image and extra leaves printed in white.  Then I layered over some pale pink damask paper by Prima.  I used washi tape and a dotty stamp to add some black into the background.  I stenciled a chevron pattern with texture paste, then dripped and splashed watercolor randomly.  I love the sentiments in this collection and used “Endure” to create a banner.  This card can be used for both a wedding or a get well.  A tiny Prima flower, some twine, and ribbon finish off the embellishment. 

Check out all of the designers in this hop and comment for a chance to win your choice of stamp sets.  Up next is Helen's video tutorial.  Make sure you visit Gracie’s shop and check out the rest of the collection.  And make sure to check back with me on September 15 for my altered composition notebook featuring this beautiful set.

I'm sharing with:
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs: Anything Goes
Creative Moments: Anything Goes Wedding or Anniversary
The Paper Shelter: Make it Digital
Crafty Sentiments: Lots of Layers
Work it Wednesday: Use a Stamp

DIY Fall Art for Home Decor

Today we launch a fabulous new challenge at Stamps & Stencils.  Rachel Fisher is our lovely hostess and she has chosen, "The colours of autumn - reds, oranges, golds and browns - use these in a mixed media creation."  Our team has created the MOST AMAZING inspiration for you this month, so do check it out.

I wasn't very creative because all that came to mind for our autumn challenge was beautiful leaves, and I did just that - created a project completely focused on autumn leaves!  I mixed some Darcies, Prima, and Tim Holtz leaf dies together with real pine cones and Prima flowers to create a fall bouquet onto an 8x10 burlap canvas board.

TIP: Create full sized inky papers and then select where on the ink patterns you wish to cut your particular dies.  This makes the process very simple.  If you want to add more ink afterward, just sponge it on randomly.  Mixing solid and skeleton leaves created a very realistic effect, don't you think?  Note some of my paper was stamped, but hadn't worked for the intended project, so I recycled it here.  I truly use every drop of ink and mop up with scraps, which is perfect for die cuts.

The sentiment is a bit cute, but sorely reminded me of my late Grandmother and I just had to use it anyway.  After all, fall decor can be a little cute, right?  My stencil work in the background didn't turn out well, so I completely covered it up.  Better to have no stencil than ugly stencil!  I added leafy swirl stamping on my designer paper to help fill in any gaps.

I'm also sharing with:

Work it Wednesday: Use Stamps

Frilly & Funkie: Floral Infatuation

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

The Sisterhood of Crafters: Pretty Ribbons

Word Art Wednesday: Anything Goes

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mixed Media Scrapbook Layout for Scrap Africa

Don’t let your jaw hit the floor, but I have created a scrapbook layout for my invitation to guest design for Scrap Africa.  I’ve saved scrapbooking for when I hit “empty nest syndrome” and though I’m not quite there, I do have a daughter that will graduate high school this year.  My very first true scrapbook layout with my own photo just had to be of her senior portraits.  She has big dreams and I look forward to watching her reach every single goal!

I was so excited when I saw this amazing sketch – how cool!

To create my circle, I used my finger to apply texture paste round and round my canvas.  When I had formed an even circle, I took a skewer and scribed into the circle to create the ridges.

I added crackle paste to the edges and let it dry overnight.  I used Glimmer Mist sprays to color my background.

I used a mix of glitter, beads and mica chips to add interest.  The “beautiful” die is by Verve.

The red flowers and leaves are by Prima.  I added some torn crocheted lace and cheesecloth.  I hope you will be inspired by this sketch to play along with the current challenge at Scrap Africa.

I'm also sharing with:

Love to Create: Anything Goes Mixed Media
Mixed Media Place: Dreams

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter