Let Your Light Shine

Well its New Year's Eve and I am sitting at home going over this last year in my mind.  I have had some fantastic ups and some horrific downs, but when the dust settles 2017 has been a very blessed year.

So one of the up moments in 2017 was being chosen to represent a fantastic online shop which offers high quality altered art and paper crafting supplies. They also offer a variety of items which includes papers, collage sheets, digital stamp sets and products which are sure to inspire your creativity. 

So its my turn to post an example of my art which is a mixed media tag that uses an image from the Misty Memories collection. 

The steps needed to complete this project are as follows:  

Supply List: 

Image from the Gecko Galz collection Misty Memories. 

Brick stencil from Crafters Workshop

Palette knife. 

Modeling paste (any brand will suffice) I used one with a sandy texture. 

Fire Brick wax from Finnabair.

Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger. 

Foam board square

Lamp post cut out (used my Cricut) 

Leaves and vines cut outs (used my Cricut) 

Dresden foil trim, flowers, pearl bead, glitter, watered down white paint and various ribbons from my stash. 

Step one. Apply the modeling paste to the tag and let it dry completely. 

Step two brush on Finnabair wax or any deep red metallic paint, using a stiff bristled brush. 

Let it dry completely. You can speed up the drying process using your heat gun. 

Step three:  cut out your Misty Memories image and ink with your favorite dark brown ink. I used Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger.

Used a small square of foam board, cardboard or fun foam to raise your image up off the tag for added dimension.  

Step four:  Add the lamp post and the other embessishments. As you see fit.  The words were printed out using my computer and home printer inked and glued down onto the tag. The last thing I did was to add a touch of iridescent clear glitter to the flower and splattered the watery white paint to mimic snow. 

Here is the finished product again. 

An Update

So, After looking at my last few blog posts, you can tell that I am really excited to be on the 2018 Gecko Galz Design Team and I promise to not talk about it again today.  What I would like to do is to update you on what's been happening in my life since my last post.

On November 7th, I woke up and could not get out of bed.  I could not stand or sit up in bed.  My right leg was hurting so, bad...  First, I fell at home about a month and a half ago and bounced on my booty (you would think I had some cushion) and jarred my fused lower back. I was able to get up and move around without pain so I didn't think anything of it. Well as time progressed so did the pain until about three weeks ago when I couldn't get out of bed. After two trips to the ER I was admitted(November 12th) and finally told I had a bulging disc and needed surgery. That surgery was Friday, November 17th. After surgery I was moving like a champ, very little pain and I could sit up again and also stood with the physician by my side and found that to be a bit painful, but I HAD just had surgery so it was expected.  As time progressed (three days) I started to hurt again and could barely walk.  My foot started to turn inward and curl up so that I was walking on the outside edge of my foot.  So the Wednesday after my surgery that would have been November 22nd I had another MRI and the results showed that the L4 nerve above the surgery site was swollen to about twice the size it should be.  So my doctor said he needed to go back in and see if he had missed something.  So on Black Friday  (November 24th) instead of shopping, I was headed back into surgery for a second time in one week.  After surgery, my doctor stated that he indeed had found a small, sharp burr that was irritating the nerve as I moved.  So he cleaned that up, however, I was left with a lot of pain and a lot of difficulty trying to walk.  On Monday, November 27th, I was transferred to a rehab hospital.  I've been here a week now and am showing increased strength and a whole lot of pain/muscle spasms in both legs.  I even had a conversion episode one day scaring the crap out of everyone including me, lol..  

Thus, here I am stuck in a rehab hospital with the majority of my art supplies at home.  I do have a few supplies here so that I can bible journal.  The supplies needed to bible journal are simple, they include Prima water color pencils, Faber-castell gelatos, a cheap Michael's brand water color set and various sizes of Faber-castell Pitt artists pens, a sharpie and a Pentel roller ball pen that I love.  Therefore, what you will get to see are my creations in my bible and a water color picture I did in occupational therapy yesterday.  Please don't be too harsh with your thoughts, you have to remember, I'm still on major nerve pain medicines as well as muscle pain medicines ie, muscle relaxers and opioids.  

And here are a couple of bible pages that I did.  

 My interpretation of 

The bottom picture was also used in a weekly challenge on a Facebook group I follow.  The Challenge consist of one word and two colors.  The word was "adventure" and the colors were "green and yellow"  I know the yellow is hard to see, but it's in the upper left corner.  It looks very green because it was colored over the blue.  Anyway that's all I have to share for today, hope y'all enjoyed my ramblings.  

Happy crafting...

Donna 

Exciting Changes!!

There are some exciting changes happening in my life right now.  I have been honored to join a  wonderful design team for the fabulous Gecko Galz.  Gecko Galz is an online shop which offers high quality altered art and paper crafting supplies.  They offer superb quality digital images, digital papers and other items including, collage sheets, digital stamp sets and products to inspire your creativity all at an affordable price.  Gecko Galz offers monthly customer challenges and their blog and newsletter offer free digital stamps and images.  I have been using Gecko Galz digital images for several years now.  Leanne has a large variety of designs in a multitude of themes and topics.

Here are a few items that I have made using Gecko Galz products:

On this ATC I used digital stamps from Gecko Galz to add some dimension to my background

 This canvas was fun, it has bits of lace, shells, metal pieces and glass stones.  The Mermaid I used is from one of the collections found on Gecko Gals.

This canvas was done several years ago when Gecko Galz asked me to be a guest designer.  Again one of Gecko Galz beautiful digital ephemera pieces.

I will be sure to share all of my design pieces in the future.

Happy Crafting

Well I Made. It

For many years now, I have been secretly wishing I could be part of a scrapbooking/art design team. I was too scared to try out for a spot until this summer.  Before this summer I was either working full time, taking care of my children/grandchildren or recovering from an accident at work that left me with permanent nerve damage in my dominant hand.  But this summer, I was able to find some time to start creating something several times a week. I have been participating in ATC Swaps and challenges on the Gecko Galz Scrapbooking Site.  So, when Gecko Galz announced its design team call for 2018, I decided to try out.  AND GUESS WHAT????  I MADE IT!!!  Whoopeeeeeee  I am soooo excited that I finally took a leap of faith and was rewarded.  So, you will be seeing my post for my projects that I will be making for Gecko Galz.  I hope you will hop over to their site and check out all the fantastic ephemera and the super cute digital papers that are for sale.  Oh, and Wednesday is One Buck Wednesday, so be sure to check it the site on Wednesdays...

Happy Creating Friends,

Donna

So What's Up!!!!

So, what's up with Me?  After my mother passed away and my grandson started daycare three days a week, I found that I had more time on my hands and needed something to fill it.  I have always loved doing anything creative.  I have since I was a very young girl.  I can remember getting one of those weaving looms and making dozens of pot holders that my Mom used until they fell apart.  One Christmas I got a candle making set.  I made candles for everyone in the neighborhood.  The summer I entered Junior High my parents put me in Singer sewing school where I learned to sew well enough to make my children's Mardi Gras costumes in later years.  Then as a young adult, I fell in love with roses and gardening.  I became an avid gardener growing and tending to over 50 rose bushes and over 75 hibiscus.  I even entered my blooms in contests and won.  It was during the summer of 2005, after my husband had a minor surgery and was home recovering, that I discovered scrapbooking.  I couldn't go outside and play in my greenhouse, I needed to be close enough to hear if hubby needed something, so I was watching a tv show about scrapbooking and thought, I could do that.  We had a local scrapbook store at the time and I was very intimidated anytime I walked in there.  I had done two scrapbooks for the boys the year they were King of the Mardi Gras Krewe we were in,  It was a very traditional scrapbook, actually it was a sketch book that I just glued the pictures and stickers and used Mardi Gras Stationary from the scrapbook store to decorate the pages.  But in 2005, I decided that I would jump in feet first and create a scrapbook for my husband.  His mother had just passed away and I had taken all the photos from the house for my husband and his children.  So, I started creating my first book in 2005 and have not looked back since.

These days I enjoy doing a multitude of mixed media projects, incorporating mixed media into my traditional scrapbooking pages.  I have discovered that the more texture a page has the more satisfied I am with it.  Now there are times when I do not add too much to the pages, just to be able to get them finished and in the book, before my grandson graduates.  He's currently 3 1/2 years old going on 30.

So since July, I have been trying to get some crafting done every day.  I don't always make it but I try.  I have been doing ATC Cards for Blissful ATC Swaps and also entering Gecko Galz Scrapbooking's monthly challenges.  I did win the challenge for July.  It was a cute little card with a circus theme.

Well gotta go pick up Batman(the grandson) from daycare.

Happy Crafting, Y'all

Donna

An Interesting two weeks

Two weeks ago, I left to go on an art/scrapping retreat.  Most of the ladies that attended cropped, but I decided that I was going to make an art journal using an old book.  Before getting to the retreat, I had prepped the front of the book, so that all I had to do was decorate the front.  Here are a few photos of the process of altering this book.

 First thing I did was to cover the entire outside surface with heavy body gesso.  Then I added some crackle paste in a few strategic places and also used a stencil to add some additional texture.  Then I started added elements.  I used 3d Gloss Gel to adhere the elements to the canvas.  I let that dry over night and then painted everything with another coat of Gesso.  I let that dry then painted the entire outside surface with black gesso.

After painting the entire surface with heavy body black gesso, I used some Finnabair brand opal magic paints to paint the entire outside of the book.  I used the violet-gold and green-gold with a dry brush technique to add color and highlights to the surface.

Now that its finished I will be using it as an art journal.  I'm really excited about the outcome.  Oh, lastly I did add some Inka Gold on top of everything to make some of the textures really pop.

Anyway, when I returned from my crop, I was told that my little grandson had been sick with a stomach virus.  He came and spend the night with us Monday night so his dad could go to work and I took care of him.  Well, unbeknownst to me, he was still contagious and by Tuesday night I was sick.  I was soooooo sick, I had not been that sick in years.  I was up all night running to the bathroom and by Wednesday all I did was sleep.  Thursday was not much better, but by this day, my son was sick also.  So there are two sick adults taking care of one feeling much better, way to active, 3 year old.  I did not feel like myself again until the Saturday.  Ugh, I haven't been that sick in forever.  I was soooooo sore.  Well that's all I have for now....  

Happy Crafting!!

Donna 

Art Journal Challenge

Late week, I stumbled across a blog entitled Art Journal Journey wherein the owner holds monthly challenges for Art Journal creations.  This month her theme is “Colour in my World” soooo I decided to enter my canvas entitled "Mindblowing".

Mindblowing

The colors I chose to work with were inspired by the photo which is part of a collection sold by Gecko Galz Scrapbooking on Etsy.  She is an 8x10 canvas that I have used stencils, hot glue, button, bits and baubles and mica sprays in the beautiful pastel shades of pink, blue, green, an yellow.  

- Happy Creating Bloggerville!

a little page from my fall mini album

It's that time of year.  Fall, Autumn, Harvest.  Whatever you call it, its my favorite.  I love waking up to a crisp cool autumn day.  There is a smell on the breeze that promises cooler days are ahead and I begin to look forward to "The Patch"  So I decided to create a mini album for the photos that we always take at the pumpkin patch.  It is a grandchild, Nana and Pocky tradition dating way back to 2005 when our grandson, Logan, was born.  He and his brother and now their cousin, absolutely love going to the pumpkin patch.  The patch is not only for pumpkin buying.  There is a small fair that last for about 8 weeks with all proceeds going to the church for its missions.  There are hay rides, photo opportunities galore a child friendly version of a corn maze, opportunities for petting goats, holding rabbits and picking out the best pumpkin for the front porch.   Here are a few photos from past trips.

It's obvious from the photos that I'm a bit obsessed with fall photos.  The saddest part is that we don't really have a Fall Season here, its October in all of these photos and the boys have shorts and as Liam call them, up sleeve shirts (Sleeveless)

In the past I would scrap a layout for each of the boys for their books and then the rest of the photos would just stay on my computer.  So this year I decided that I would make a small fall album to put all my favorite photos in so that we could look at them all year.  Here is a photoless page that I did. I used gecko gals digital paper called Autumn Harvest and one of their fabulous images from the Be Thankful for Fall Jewel It collection.  

Fall Harvest

I am also going to be entering this into the Gecko Galz fall challenge.  You can check out all the photos over on the blog at geckogalzscrapbooking.blogspot.com.  I won the challenge in June with a circus ATC Card and my prize was $25 worth of product from the Geckogalz etsy store.  You can check out her amazing empemra packs and digital papers  Here.  

Well, my cute little grandson, who calls me Nani instead of Nana, is here for the night,  I usually have him 4 to 5 nights a week because his dad is working a 5:am shift and that's way too early to be dragging a 3 year old out of bed.  

Will post more later!!!

No, I'm not dead!!!

Well Hello Blog world.  I know what y'all are thinking...  Y'all thought that I had disappeared off the face of the earth or worst, died.  Well I'm here to tell you that I have not died, I've just been super busy with life.  Since my last entry, I have become a fulltime babysitter for my three year old grandson, Liam.  His Dad, my son, is working hard trying to juggle his job and being a single dad.  I remember those days well, as I was a single mom to two young boys for about 10 years.  I have also been the sole caregiver for two very special ladies.  My mom and her aunt/godmother, my great aunt.  Sadly both of the passed away with months of each other.  It only been three months for my mom and I miss her soooooo much. 

They took up any left over time I had when I wasn't caring for the grandson.  And then I have had a couple of back surgeries also.   Anyway, all of these things in various forms and combinations have kept me from being able to create as I use to, but now that Liam is almost four and is allowing me out of his sight for a couple of hours a day, and my job as a caregiver is gone I am starting to create again. 

I have also been cropping a lot on the weekends, so I will upload some layouts that I have completed soon.  But tonight I am here to share some mixed media layouts and other projects that I have been working on.  Hope you enjoy them.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon to see my other projects.