She Can See Clearly Now

Last week, this sweet girl learned that the world isn't as blurry and as confusing as she had previously thought.


That's a smile of a girl who is seeing life for the first time. She's got new eyes.


It is a beautiful thing.

Cutie Patootie

While I was on vacation this summer, I snapped a few pics of my nieces and nephews. This one of my niece turned out especially good.


Materials: My Little Shoebox pattern papers, die cuts and chipboard letters; Bazzil paper, mist (my own creation), alcohol inks, transparency, sequin waste, Hero Arts stamp, text page

When I create a layout, sometimes I spend hours placing elements, moving them around, changing things. At other times, I basically slap everything on the page, glue it down and throw it all together. This is one of those layouts that I threw together without a great deal of thought. It was supposed to be a 12x6, but when I finished, it felt like it needed a bit of grounding so I added a 12x12 black background and some sequin waste. The flowers and the butterflies were sitting unused on my workspace from another project so they ended up joining the party. I love it when everything falls into place.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Owls and Aprons

When I looked at the name of the set of owls I was sent from Hero Arts, Four Stylish Owls, I knew that my owl would feel much more comfortable in clothing. Originally, I designed a little dress for her, but my design was not suitable for her pear-shaped belly.

Note to self: do not go into fashion design for winged creatures...

That's when I spotted the My Little Shoebox die-cut corner. With two snips to the side, an apron was born.


Now she's ready for any baking challenges she may encounter. Although, I'm pretty sure she'll remove her fancy shoes if things get really hairy in the kitchen.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Nesting Dolls

I love Russian Nesting Dolls. I had one when I was a girl and I remember playing with it for hours. When my mom gave the girls the coolest nesting dolls ever for Christmas last year, I had to take a few pictures.

These pictures languished in a pile until I received my Hero Arts stamp set that featured none other than NESTING DOLLS! (raised voice in excitement) How cool is that? Apparently, someone over there has the same obsession. Now, if we could just get a set of stamps featuring Holly Hobby, I'd be set for life.


I used My Little Shoebox papers, stickers and die-cuts, StazOn black ink, a few buttons, ribbon from my stash and my trusty black Sharpie pen.


Close-up of my lovely dolls. I journaled on the belly of the biggest one.


My title. Originally, it said For the Love of Nesting. With LOVE and NESTING in big letters. When I took a step back, I realized that was NOT the mood I wanted to convey in this layout so I added DOLLS to make it a bit more...ummm...girl and less...well...icky.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Beach Beauty

Each month, My Little Shoebox cross-designs with another manufacturer. This month, I was lucky enough to receive a few stamp sets from Hero Arts!

Can I tell you how excited I was? I'm not sure. I was pretty darn excited.

Here's a layout that I completed using Hero Arts stamps and My Little Shoebox and a few pictures of E at the beach this summer.


I learned how to do these flowers from Lucy Edson. Aren't they marvelous? I used MLS paper and stamped with a background stamp from Hero Arts using black ink. (That is why there are dots.) I used beads as the inner part of the flower.


My title. I outlined the sticker letters to help them to stand out a bit more.


You can see how I stamped on the pink swirl. I've never done that before and I love the look.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Your Dance

Cam has the cutest dance ever. He does this crazy running-in-place thing with his hands in a funny position then he spins around. I seriously love it. I was so lucky to have pictures taken of him doing his thing. (Photography courtesy of Freedom Photography (if you live in the Phoenix area pthatcher@gmail.com).

For this layout, I used the new Robots Unplugged line from My Little Shoebox.


A close-up of the journaling.


My Alcohol Ink 101 tutorial is up at The Scrap Review! I'm pretty excited about it! If you have a chance, go check it out!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Fave Game

As children, we used to make up all kinds of fun games to entertain ourselves. Fortunately, that habit hasn't died as we've gotten older. One game that we invented only a few years ago is still going strong. It doesn't have a name, but here is the basic premise: jump into the pool in character. In other words: you are...say...Sleeping Beauty...now jump into the pool like she would. That's it!

You wouldn't think that it would be as popular as it is, but the kids love it. Especially the ones who aren't afraid of...well...jumping into the pool unaided.

A few years ago, my mom captured my brother in character as a ballerina. It was getting dark so the pictures are really grainy, but when I came across them a few weeks ago, I giggled from the memory that came to me. So I made a layout using the Robots Unplugged line from My Little Shoebox.


Materials: Bazzil Cardstock, sharpie pen, Delta paint, My Little Shoebox paper and letters


I placed my journaling around the big circle. I also painted the chipboard letters (originally orange) because I wanted everything to be pretty much black and white because of the gray pictures. I'm loving that look right now (b&w). So funky.

On a completely unrelated note, my Scrap Review tutorial won't be published until the 18th. I guess it was due on the 15th. A little confusion there. So if you visited and didn't see it, no worries. I'm coming soon.

Yesterday night, I attended a Trash to Treasure (aka taking older furniture and making it look beautiful again) class that one of my friends taught. It was amazing. I learned loads and now I can't wait to get the spray paint out and decorate my home! Last night, I dreamed of going to Goodwill and picking out awesome furniture, plants and Halloween costumes (of all things). I woke up feeling really refreshed and really creative. Thanks Kendra!

First Day of Preschool

Last Tuesday was a certain young man's first day of preschool. He was so excited that he was up, dressed and chatting with me at 6 AM that morning. It was tough to wait until 9:20. In fact, someone whose name starts with a C, fiddled with the clock to make time go a little faster. He denied it completely, but the stool under the clock gave him away.


Of course, we took a few fake-smile pictures. It is difficult for a 4 year old boy to smile without crinkling his nose and closing his eyes. (At least for this four year old boy.) I insisted on open-eyed photos.


It will take a little more practice, but we'll get it eventually.

Baptism Day

After weeks of preparation, last Saturday was Danika's baptism day. It was a lovely day spent with family and friends.

I don't have any big group pictures yet, so here's one of me, Todd and Dani. For some reason, it looks like he and I are holding her down for the picture, but really we aren't. I promise. We are all feeling so connected that it was hard not to hold each other.


Danika and her good friend who attended. She's wearing one of the dresses that I made. (I made two: one for the baptism and the other for the confirmation.)


Yes, the kitchen table became a makeshift sewing center for a few weeks as I sewed my little heart out. There was one sleeve that almost made me throw the entire project into the garbagio, but thankfully, I went to bed and life was brighter in the morning.


My favorite part was hand-stitching the hems and the linings on this chair in my bedroom. It was just so peaceful. I felt as if love flowed from my heart into the dresses with each small stitch. It was really satisfying even though it took me way longer than it was supposed to.


When I finished, we set up a mini photoshoot outside. It started with some awkwardness. A little stiffness...ummm...how should I smile again?


A curtsy loosened up the model a little.


Of course, I had to get a picture of the bow in the back.


Then the stiffness went away and the real smile lit up the world.


Adorable new shoes...I wish they came in mongo size.


A Sound of Music move.


The hills are alive...


Yes, it was all worth it. Just for that happy face.

A Few Tags

For some reason, I find making cards somewhat difficult. I'm not sure what my hang-up is, but I'm just not that into them. Tags, however are way fun. Here are a few tags that I made for my guest spot at Marks Paper Co.


Materials: Marks Paper Company die-cut tag, My Little Shoebox letter stickers, Maya Road ribbon, Ranger Grungeboard, Making Memories paint

The second tag was made with a paint chip as the background. I seriously love using paint chips. I gather them whenever I go to the Home Improvement store.

Materials: Paint chip, Marks Paper Company die cuts; Maya road flower; 7 Gypsies brad; Ranger grungeboard bird, Making Memories glitter; vintage lace, sequin waste, rick rack; staples

Have a lovely Labor Day!

LYTM

My mother-in-law has a saying: I love you too much. Whenever she writes the kids notes or leaves a comment on the blog she always says this in acronym form: LYTM. I decided that this deserved a layout.

I made this one of her and Zo using Marks Paper. Zo told me five different things that she loves about her grandma and I put those in my journaling swirls.


A close-up of the title.


I traced the die-cut flowers and leaves for my doodles. I lined them with colored pencil to add a subtle color.


Materials: Bazzil cardstock; Marks Paper die cuts and pattern paper; Sharpie pen; American Crafts thickers; prismacolor colored pencils; Paoer Studio buttons

I Found a Part of You

A few months ago, I was straightening the living room when I came across a warrantee card for the organ that resided in my grandparent's home when I was a child. I'm not exactly sure how it ended up on my living room floor. I think that perhaps it was in the piano bench (that was also theirs) that had recently fallen on the floor spilling all of its contents. When I turned the card over, I saw my grandfather's handwriting: all caps, bold and linear. I remember that handwriting from the crosswords that he would complete every morning, from the checks that he would write me for Christmas, from the scraps of paper in his home. It was like finding a part of him right there in my living room. It reminded me that our loved ones are always with us in spirit.

So I did this layout to remember this experience. It is very linear and graphic and yet, still me. I'm sure he would have liked this one.


I placed the card in a little sleeve so that I could remove it if necessary.


My journaling and titlework. The title got lost in the layout until I swiped a bit of white paint behind it.


You can see the dimension from this angle. I cut out a few of the dots from the pattern paper and attached them using popdots.


Materials: Bazzil cardstock; Prismacolor pencils; Sharpie pen; American Crafts thickers; Inkadinkado stamp; white paint; Marks Paper Co pattern paper and diecuts

Boy, do I miss him.

All Your Heart

I thought over the next few days that I'd chat a bit about each of the layouts that I did for Marks Paper Company.

All Your Heart was the last layout that I completed, but it is my favorite because of the big flower.


I cut the flower out of the pattern paper, curled up the edges, sprayed it with water then dried it with a heat gun to give it some stability. Then, I heat embossed the edges using Judikins silver embossing powder and a Versamark pad. For a little more sparkle, I dipped my finger into Mod Podge and spread it onto the flower. Then I dipped my finger into Making Memories silver glitter and spread it over the glue. The photo doesn't do the prettiness justice.


My journaling is a quote from Buddha.


I also heat embossed the edges of the pattern paper after I distressed them. I love this look! The butterflies are actually from lace ribbon. I cut them out individually.


Materials: Pattern paper is Marks Paper Company; Fontwerks stickers; Jenni Bowlin stickers; Creative Imaginations stickers; dry wall tape; Core'dinations cardstock; lace; vintage buttons, embroidery floss; letter flashcard from Target; Ranger paint, text

Marks Paper Company

Marks Paper Company is a relatively new company that makes beautiful papers with a nod to Dick and Jane era sweetness. Their paper feels and acts like paper, but has a cool fabric look to it.

They have a really awesome guest designer this month. I won't mention any names, but her name starts with a B. I really suggest you check it out here. (giggle)

Recovering

It was a busy weekend for us. We are all still recovering. Sleeping the afternoon away. Laundry. You know, those types of important things.

I haven't forgotten that I promised dress pictures. They are coming. As soon as I can get them off the camera...