One Week Journal

The My Little Shoebox designers were given a personalized mini-album from Clear Scraps to alter about a month ago. Since my name is 7 letters long, I decided to do an art journal for a week. I chose a random week (November 1-7th) because I wanted a brief glimpse in my regular life.

This is how it turned out.


I began by painting (acrylic paints), misting (Shimmerz Spritz in Cotton Candy), and stamping (Inque Boutique) the background. I chose three colors: pink, yellow and baby blue along with white and black. This kept the project cohesive.


I adhered my My Little Shoebox chipboard letters and letter stickers next. A bit of outlining makes them pop.


Then I cut out tons of images from My Little Shoebox papers and adhered them to the borders of my pages. I pretty much stuck with one theme per letter.


Then I embossed the edges of each letter with JudiKins sparkle silver embossing powder. This was a mistake. I should have embossed when I was all done writing. I went through pen after pen trying to write over stray embossing powder crystals. Darn it.



I tried to write something each day, but I got behind after day two. (Of course) I ended up writing a few days at a time, but I have a pretty good memory so I don't think that it really matters.


After I finished writing, I embellished like crazy. This, in my opinion was the best part. I added buttons, chipboard elements (Basic Grey), ribbon (Making Memories), rickrack, mini mosaic tiles (Harmonie).


I also added some bling with Shimmerz Blingz in Hi Ho Silver. Wow, that stuff is cool! (See the silver cloud around the date? That is Shimmerz.)


I love how My Little Shoebox papers have so many cool images to cut out! Here's one of my little scenes.


The mini mosaic tiles by Harmonie are another one of my favorite additions. They just add something extra.


I also did a few flowers using My Little Shoebox papers and some Shimmerz Spritz in Cotton Candy. (It may just be my favorite Spritz color.)


I also added some Hi Ho Silver Blingz to the flowers to give them even more sparkle.





This is my favorite date. I think it turned out absolutely perfectly. To make it, I painted a very small border around a Heidi Swapp butterfly mask using yellow. Then after I removed the mask, I painted a little blue border inside. I wrote the date then outlined with a pink colored pencil. The pink butterflies are made of acetate colored with alcohol ink and edged with Hi Ho Silver Blingz again. I can't get enough of that stuff!


I added some ribbons and some Melissa Frances tinsel to the rings to finish it all up.


This was a very time intensive project, but I absolutely love how it turned out!

Now for some less interesting personal stuff. (hehehe)

This weekend, the bigger girls, my friend Sara, and I went to my sister, Mandy's musical: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. This was D and Z's first live performance (that they can remember) and they were completely enthralled. They were so bummed when the musical ended and asked me if we could go to every performance in the future. It was a lovely evening for us. I'm now looking into children's theater because both of them have serious interest especially Z. (No surprise for those of you who know her...) If you know of any good theaters in the Phoenix area, please let me know. I need some leads.

I just signed up for a cool paperclay class at Mystic Paper in Mesa, AZ. I can't tell you how excited I am. I've always wanted to work with paperclay and now I have the chance! There are still openings if you want to learn how to make this cute guy (look for the Polka Dot Pixie) and hang with me. I've only taken two other live classes (one on soldering and another by Tim Holtz) and each time I complete a class, I experience a major creative high. I love it.

I'm on ScrapScene again with a few Christmas cards. It is always a thrill to appear there!

If you haven't checked out The Next Step lately, you are seriously missing out. Jeanet Kuiper is our guest artist this month and she did a great tutorial on using scraps, paint and misting to make lovely backgrounds.

Oh, and Lucy Edson has a wonderful new video tutorial up on Shimmerz (I was just totally inspired to get misting on fabric after I watched it) and the My Little Shoebox blog has been updated with some fun projects including the DT scraplift results.

Have a wonderful week!

xoxo
Bethany

Oh Christmas Tree

I completed this Christmas tree for My Little Shoebox this month. I think that it would be a great tag or ornament on my tree, don't you?


If you'd like to make a tree like this, here is a mini tutorial.

Materials:
My Little Shoebox pattern paper
Mod Podge
White cardstock
machine and thread
buttons and black floss
ribbon

Directions
1. Trace a triangle tree shape onto a piece of lined pattern paper. Cut it out and adhere it to a sheet of white cardstock.
2. Cut out a rectangle out of brown pattern paper. Adhere it to your white cardstock for a trunk.
3. Write the words to the chorus of We Wish You a Merry Christmas using black ink.
4. Add glitter as desired.
5. Fold a piece of ribbon (about 4 inches long) in half. Glue to top of tree. Adhere a die-cut heart to top of ribbon ends. You will make a sandwich with your cardstock on the bottom, ribbon ends in middle and heart on top.
6. Cut out clouds and words and adhere.
7. Cut out the tree leaving a small border of white cardstock.
8. Sew around edges. (Or draw a black line.)
9. Adhere buttons.

All done!

I hope this has inspired you!

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? We certainly did! I took a simple approach this year and enjoyed my time so much more. I contracted out the desserts (buying some of them while my sister, Mandy, brought some.) I cut back on the amount of sides and decorated the table very simply. It was so much less stressful and so much more fun. Everyone had a great time. I think that this is probably the way to go. (At least for me.)

I'm now in complete shock that Christmas is just around the bend. I swear that Christmas comes quicker each year. Right now I'm working on finishing Quinn's stocking (only 18 months late, I might add) and working on a few gifts for little Lyssie. I'll post my projects as I finish them. Have a wonderful weekend!

Good Morning Boys

A few days ago, I came across this scene when I entered the nursery to get the littlest up.


Oh man, I love these little boys.


I've got my first tip up on the Shimmerz blog. It is an easy one so if you have a chance, check it out!

Have a wonderful weekend!

BlissFest 2009

A few weekends ago, I attended BlissFest in Mesa, AZ. I can't tell you how much fun I had! It was seriously great. I had initially heard about BlissFest from the 7 Gypsies blog and attended as a sort of experiment. Boy, I was pleasantly surprised.

First, I shopped until I practically dropped at Mystic Paper, one of my absolute favorite scrapbook stores evah. They have the coolest displays, wonderful collage ephemera, knowledgable workers. (Yeah, I like it there.) While I was shopping, I came across the Gypsies and got the coolest ATC tin filled with goodness just for recognizing them. How cool are they? It was really exciting.

Here are a few pics that I took at the event. It was a feast for the eyes, I tell you.



Isn't this color scheme just divine? That orange will be appearing in my work very soon.





We stopped by the Heather Bailey booth and picked up a few trash ties, chatted with Lindsay, her assistant. (Who looks so extremely familiar to me that I know we must have met previously. Somewhere.)



Aren't these girls gorgeous?



I even got to meet Heather herself. I can't tell you how tongue-tied I was when I tried chatting it up with her. I started talking and I just kept rambling on and on about the most inane subject! It was like the little guy in my brain that monitors what I say took a very inconveniently planned bathroom break as I began our conversation. Finally, when he realized what was happening, he rushed out, pants still at his ankles screaming STOP, STOP, JUST STOP NOW! But, alas, it was too late. I couldn't stop. I just went on and on and on.


As we were leaving, we came across this cute store named after one the finest little people around. They just spelled it wrong, but what can you expect?


After Lissa's, things got a little crazy as we did a little impromptu posing with a statue.


It was a really fun day.

Shimmerz

This month, My Little Shoebox did a product swap with Shimmerz, a company that makes the most wonderful iridescent paint and mists. Before this swap, I hadn't had the opportunity to use Shimmerz and once I had, I was totally and completely hooked. I'm such a pack-rat. Anything shiny, glittery, iridescent attracts me like a moth to light so you can imagine how much fun I had playing with my goodies.

Well...last week, Jeni Boivert, the education design team coordinator called me and invited me to join the...


So, of course, I agreed!

I'm so excited and so nervous at the same time. I'm joining a group of mega-talented women including my very good friend, Lucy Edson. And, I'll be shooting videos of me! There will be no more anonymity. You'll be seeing me upclose and personal starting in January. I know, you just can't wait...giggle. Until then, I've got loads of practicing to do, a few pounds to shed, a manicure to get, and projects to create.

This is going to be a crazy ride! See you soon!

Oh, and if you love Shimmerz as much as I do (and really, who wouldn't?) they are having a DT call right now! Yep, now's your chance to shimmer with me! See this post for details. Good luck! I've got my fingers crossed for you!

Birthday Moments

It has taken me almost a year to scrap this fun day in E's life. I struggle scrapping big events for some reason. I much prefer those daily little moments. These were taken at E's 2nd birthday celebration. She was seriously the happiest girl ever. You can probably figure that out just by all the smiles...


Materials: My Little Shoebox papers, overlays, chipboard letters, lace butterflies, Sharpie pen, thread and machine


I discovered a little trick for using loads of pictures on a layout. Usually, I don't need 8 full 4x6 photos, but I want small parts of many photos. For example, E's face as she opened her gifts wasn't as flattering as her face as she blew out the candles. But, I wanted to remember what she received on her second birthday. So, I took my circle punch and punched out the part of the photo that showed her gifts and used those circles on my layout as an accent. I also punched out various circles of her face as I found all the smiles endearing. This seems to be a good way to get lots of pics onto a one page spread. I hope this helps as you try to incorporate all those beautiful pics!

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Getting Grass

Last week was very exciting as we finally got grass in our backyard!


The men had quite a few little helpers.


Serious work going on here.


Even the babe caught onto the excitement. Those jammies only lasted a few more seconds as he discovered the dog water a few minutes after this picture was taken.


Cam became very good amigos with the men. He helped for hours.


So excited.




Hooray for a new backyard!

Want More Creative Energy?

This, right here is worth a read.