Art House Co-op Coolness

Hi everyone! This is my project for the Art House Co-op 4x6 Exchange. Thank you Misty for the heads up on this awesome concept: a worldwide community art swap! How cool is that? It needs to be mailed and therefore has to lay flat but I couldn't let it go without putting some sort of texture on it L:)

I took a 4X6 piece of canvas paper, covered it in book and tissue paper, put down random strips of masking tape and then gessoed over everything. Next I covered the whole page in glimmer mist, stamps and then dripped some liquid acrylic around. Lastly I heat embossed the quote stamp on vellum used gel medium to adhere the vellum. Just a bit of bubble wrap, ink stamping, and gesso and I was done.

Cheers! and I hope everyone is having great week......! Thanks for visiting and leaving your comments!

Ode to Masking Tape

In a recent post I made a reference to how much I loved masking tape. It's so versatile and it's cheap!! I end up using it quite a bit in my pages and I wanted to share with you the different ways I use it.

Oh and before I forget, the masking tape I use is from the dollar store. Can't beat that for price and I actually prefer it because it's thinner than any heavy duty stuff..

I use it in lieu of washi tape. (Love washi tape but I just don't own any right now!). I lay down strips of plain tape and then I paint it with acrylic paint or mist and then use my stamps on it.

My favorite use of it is to add texture! I prefer to crumple and fold it as I lay it down. Then I gesso over it and add my paints, mists, crayons.

On my most recent layout I used it to make an embellishment. I wanted to make a striped hot air balloon so I prepared my masking tape with pink paint and checkered stamps. Next I laid down the painted masking tape with stickers in a stripe pattern onto cardstock, cut out a semi circle, and I had my "balloon".

Here's the left overs after I'd cut the semi circle (sorry about the poor picture..took it at night!).

Hope that was helpful! Leave a link if you make something, I'd love to see it:)

The Adventure Begins

I was going a little stir crazy because I hadn't made anything in several days so I decided to join in with CSI and their case file no. 9 and get me something made! They've always got great colors and ideas to inspire and here's what I came up with:

Wanna know something funny? I've never, ever scrapped any of our wedding photos! I swear that's not a reflection on our marriage :) I just kinda jumped into scrapping when the kids started coming and if you don't already know, they can kinda take over (in a good way-most of the time!!) ;)

Anywho, I really loved the picture they had on CSI and went with it!

I made everything up from scratch for this one. The balloon's stripes are made from painted and stamped masking tape (I should write an ode to that stuff!) and some super old definition stickers (remember those?). I hand cut the 'ruffles' for the balloon and basket from various scraps I had around and the rest were fun bits of trim I've also had for a looong time. The basket is cardboard that I painted with crackle paint. Here's some close ups:

I had fun with this one and it felt good:)  Thanks so much for your visit and comments!!

Exciting News to Share!

OK, I am so EXCITED!! I've been wearing this cheesy grin on my face since last night and I have some awesome news to share!! I made it on the 2012 Basically Bare team....YAHOOO!!

And can I tell you how honored and humbled I am? This is a seriously talented group of people I get to work with...seriously! I'm got butterfly flutters in my stomach from the thought but that's alright :) !!

Here's the group:

Design team coordinator: Elizabeth (Beth) Gaddis

The Art Assembly:

Christina Colon
DeeDee Catron
Erin Bassett
Jennifer Mattot
Rebecca Price
Sandra Wilson

The Book Bunch:

Becky Launder

Daniela Costa

Emily Lanham

Linda Brun

Moe Mahoski

Tanisha Long

Veronica Johnson

The Scrap Stars:

Angela Holt

Frank Garcia

Katrina Hunt

Kristin Tweedale

Miae Rowe (that's me!!)

Sarah Bargo

Can't wait to get started! Thank you for all your support!

Basically Bare!

Hi everyone! The weekend flew by and it's Monday again....where does it all go?? Well today's post isn't about a page I've already made but rather about some really cute, cool products that I'd like to make some future pages with. Have you guys heard of Basically Bare? They make these wonderful mini albums and awesome, fun shapes that are....you guessed it..bare!! Guess what that means? We get to alter the heck out of them (or not) and make them suit so many projects! I'm trying out for their design team and am so excited to have made it to their 'Final Exam'!

There were so many products to choose from but for my "final" I'm going to share with you, 3 of my favorites:) ...but wait, there's more! Leave a comment on my blog by March 15 for a chance to win an awesome prize: Basically Bare's whole winter CHA pack of embellies and albums! Now that's a lot of goodies!

Shall we get started:

Celestial Shapes:


OK, how cute are these? Love the sun and moon and I'm a huge fan of clouds and stars! So I've got some photos of my baby's feet that I've been meaning to scrap and I can just imagine using those stars and maybe even the moon, dolling them up with stamps and glitter (I want to make them shine!) and calling it Twinkle Toes!

Climbing Ivy Set:


And this! Who doesn't think brick backgrounds are pretty cool?  I've been wanting to make a page with bricks and this pack would be perfect! I can imagine distressing those bricks, tearing them a bit to expose the corrugation for texture, applying crackle paint, using molding paste between them for the "mortar" ...ooohh the possibilities!

Hearts Set 2:



Canvas hearts! First of all I love hearts, second of all I love canvas! I think it's so cool to spray/ mist canvas and see all the texture come through the beautiful colors! I could definitely use them in so many of my page layouts but I think I might be tempted to use these on a canvas piece too. Something to put up on the walls of my girls' rooms? Hmmm the wheels are turning.....!

What could you see yourself making?

So one more time, be sure to leave a comment on my blog by March 15 because Basically Bare is going to pick one lucky person from all of the finalists' commenters to give their prize to!

Thanks for your visit and comments!

Interested in Pinterest? TrueXOXO Challenge...

Challenge #27 is up over at True XOXO Scrapbooking so come on by and play!

This month's subject is Pinterest!...I'll be the first to admit that just writing this blog puts me in a bit of a conundrum: I really love all the wonderful, amazing, inspiring images I find at Pinterest but I'm also aware now of some of the controversies with the User's Terms (click here for discussion). But legalese is not what I want this blog post to be about so in the spirit of being inspired and inspiring others (without any copyright infringement intended...oops, just a bit of legalese) here's my page:

My inspiration came from the quote by Georgia O'Keeffe which reads "I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for". Beautiful quote that really spoke to me!

I applied gesso to kraft paper and then I colored with neo color crayons along the top, sprayed with water and let the colors drip down. I got to use one of my border punches (I so rarely use punches though I aspire to!) to create the loops.

Turn in your inspired pages for a chance to be a guest DT! Thank you for your visit and comments!