Quick Announcement

I only have a few seconds, but I wanted to share some super-cool news with you....

Elizabeth Kartchner is joining the Shimmerz team as an endorsed educator. This means she'll be using Shimmerz products in her upcoming classes. Cool huh?

You can get to know Elizabeth here. You'll love her!

Also, check back on the Shimmerz blog later this week for some more exciting news!

Have a great day!

Messy Bessy

Lately I've felt the desire for simple in my scrapbook layouts. It could be because I've been taking on bigger more time-intensive mixed-media projects. I'm not sure, but last week I sat down with the very cute new line All a Flutter by My Little Shoebox and came up with Messy Bessy.

My friend, Sara Jarvie (my family photographer) took this pic of E. I love it.

Materials: Bazzil cardstock, My Little Shoebox papers and sticker letters, Uniball signo pen, Prismacolor pencils

To make this layout, I simply punched out circles of pattern paper, adhered them in two very straight lines. (I even used a ruler.) I added the heart, butterfly and flower for dimension and interest. A little doodling to balance out the black of the title finish it off. Very simple. Exactly what I wanted.

This week I have family visiting for Spring Break so I'm going to spend every free moment I have with them and take the rest of the week off of blogging. I'll be back again next week.

Have a great week!

xoxo
Bethany

Simple Materials for Great Layouts

It doesn't take a whole lotta expensive supplies to make a great layout. Case in point: So Sad. You can make your own flowers, cut your own copier paper into beautiful designs. (I did this with my Silhouette SD.) and create something like this.

Materials: copier paper; Silhouette SD tree, lace, leaves, bird images; Melissa Frances tinsel; plastic heart ribbon; ric-rack; Shimmerz paints and Spritz; ribbon; Bazzil cardstock; crepe paper; My Mind's Eye pattern paper; Gesso, machine and thread; Maya Road pin and flowers

To make the background, I cut a circle out of junk paper using a plate from the kitchen. I placed that circle on a piece of pattern paper by My Mind's Eye and painted gesso over the exposed areas. I removed the junk paper circle and I spritzed with Shimmerz Spritz in Cotton Candy to make the center (non-painted) area stand out even more. Then I sewed around the circle adding some scallops for interest.

To make the flowers, I followed a tutorial by Danielle Flanders.  If you haven't seen Danielle's work before, you've got to check out her blog. You're going to love her.

The key to the success of this design is grouping various sized of embellishments. When you make an embellishment cluster, don't just stick with one size. Vary them like crazy. Add bits of ribbon. Add bits of tinsel. Add leaves. It isn't hard and it looks really beautiful when you're done. It just takes a bit of fussing. (Which I happen to enjoy immensely.)

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Sunshine

Me (while picking up E after a long play outside): You smell like sunshine.

E (while cuddling on my shoulder): I know.

Love that girl.

On Reaching Goals

This month, I finally reached a goal that I've been working toward for years. It is one of those goals that I never really thought I'd reach and when I found out that I did, I cried.

I was published this month in Somerset Studio.

I submitted a piece to the Alice in Wonderland call 100 years ago and hadn't heard back. I assumed that it was because I was rejected. So when I opened up my issue and thumbed through and actually found ME! I screamed with joy. Of course, this frightened the poor children sitting in the car with me half-to-death. (I look at magazines during red lights much to the annoyance of people sitting behind me in traffic. It is a terrible habit. I'm getting help for it.)

Here's my piece. Do you recognize it? (It is the heart with wings. On the very top!)

I hadn't come down from my Somerset Studio high before I got this magazine in the mail a few days later.

Hmmm. I thought to myself...I didn't order this...I wonder why I got it? Then it occurred to me that perhaps I had something published in it! And I did!

I'm still kinda in shock over the whole thing. And so happy. So very happy.

Family Pics

A little over a month ago, we had our family pictures taken by one of my oldest and bestest friends, Sara Jarvie. I love how calm and unobtrusive she is during a photo shoot. Being the one normally behind the camera, I'm very uncomfortable in front of it, but Sara helped me feel totally at ease. (If you live in Arizona and need some great pics, email me and I'll give you her contact info.) It isn't easy capturing the personalities of so many individuals, but she certainly did it.

She took so many fab shots, but here are a few of my faves. (In no particular order.)

Just posting these pics makes me ever so grateful for my sweet babies and my handsome man. They are all so precious. Gosh, I think I must be the luckiest woman alive.

I hope that you feel that way too. (About your own life, I mean. giggle)

xoxo
Bethany

The Silhouette SD: Digital Cutting System Review

Today my review of the Silhouette SD went live at The Scrap Review. I had so much fun playing with this machine! If you are looking for a cutting system, you need to check out my review before you purchase. (Since they are a major purchase!)

I'll be chatting about my layout later this week, but here are a few projects that don't need to much explanation.

Here is a card that I made using flowers cut into various sizes, sprayed with Shimmerz Vibez and stacked. The swirl was also cut out using the Silhouette, stamped and sprayed with Shimmerz Spritz. (Both the flower and the swirls were cut out of basic copier paper.)

The Congratulations sticker is from SRM.

Now for a cute project that my girls are absolutely ga-ga over. (BTW, Old Navy kid's shirts are on sale right now!)

Isn't it beautiful? It took a long time to place all the rhinestones, but the happy smiles and refusal to remove their precious shirts at night make all that time a labor of love.

Next, I made a mini-art quilt using a dress form that I cut out from copier paper, sprayed with Shimmerz Vibez and sewed to a piece of muslin sprayed with Shimmerz and stamped. The heart is also a piece of muslin that I sprayed with Shimmerz. Can you tell I'm loving the Shimmerz? (giggle)

I've never etched glass before, but I attempted it for this review. It was amazingly easy. I was a bit worried about the whole chemical reaction thing, but it turned out to be painless. I've got plans to etch the bottle that I keep dish soap in. Won't that be pretty?

Have a great Monday!

xoxo
Bethany

Surf's Up at My Little Shoebox

There's a lot going on at My Little Shoebox right now! First, we're having a name-the-baby contest. You could win some of those cute mini-alphas. I seriously love them! Also, MLS was in Kristina's picks at 2Peas this week! I must say, I totally agree with her choices. (giggle)

Here's is my newest layout using the Away We Go line by My Little Shoebox. I mainly used the B-sides of the papers for this one. I absolutely love the colors on this line. Blues, yellows, greens and reds. A slight twist on the primaries. It is a great line for boy pages and funky doodles.

On Surf's Up, I was able to combine 4 different photos by layering them. If you've got a spread with many photos, this is a great way to get them all onto a page.

Materials: My Little Shoebox pattern papers, Uniball pen, colored pencils, Cosmo Cricket Star, Target ribbon

Surf's Up is also an example of minimal supplies having a maximum impact. To make a great layout, you don't need tons and tons of stuff. (Although I do enjoy piling it on too.) All you need is a couple of sheets of pattern paper with a great color scheme, a pen and some type of coloring agent. (I used colored pencils.) Of course, a strong visual triangle helps the design. You can see how I did 3 green circles with red insides for my visual triangle. You can also see how I balanced the strip of blue with a little tag of blue at the top. I also balanced my very large black title with my journaling.

Here is a close-up of my journaling.

Here are a few close-ups of the papers and doodles. Notice that my doodles are made up of basic shapes that anyone can do. I just layered them in an interesting way.

Have a great day!

xoxo
Bethany

Artistic Chore Chart

As a member of the Artistic Mother group, I made this simple chore chart for the sweeties as my interpretation of part of week one's assignment.

I waste so much time telling each lovely forgetful child to do the same things. (I'm positive I'm the only the mother with this problem...giggle) Now, I can just ask them if they've completed their chores. This will probably save me at least 15 minutes each day. Enough time to work on a project, right?

All the papers are from the new My Little Shoebox lines. Aren't they the cutest things ever? Those birds make my heart sing! And that car? Oh, that I could be so hip!

Can I just tell you how much I love making backgrounds? This one was made with a combination of Shimmerz Vibez, paints and oil pastels. I love how it turned out.

Have a great day!

xoxo
Bethany

New Shimmerz Pearlz and Vibez Video

Today, on the Shimmerz vlog is a new video. Yeah!

In it I show you how to use Shimmerz Pearlz as a resist with Vibez. I hope that you enjoy it!



xoxo
Bethany

Muddy Helpers

Since I've been spending a lot of time outside gardening, I've had quite a few helper volunteers. Some are more helpful than others, but all are welcomed with open arms and a trowel.

This one is pretty helpful. As long as the hose is directed in a proper fashion.

 

Barefeet mandatory, of course.

 

On the other hand, this one has a long way to go before helpful becomes an adjective I would use to describe his activities.

 

And yet, I wouldn't garden without his chubby little feet right by my side.

  

Yes, sometimes, when you play in the mud, it will get on your hands. I know it is shocking my little Q-tip.

  

You can't tell me that this picture isn't just the most precious thing on the planet. Nope, I won't believe you.

 

(By the way, I've been using Mindy's PSE actions to fix all my less-than perfect photos. So if you've noticed a difference in my picture quality, that's why!)

Have a wonderfully muddy day!

xoxo
Bethany

Test Your Shimmerz Smarts

At Shimmerz, we have a little pop quiz going on. (No you won't be graded. You can stop your panicking heart right now.)  This is just for fun.

Can you tell which Shimmerz product was used on each flower?

I know it isn't easy, but you can do it!

Have fun!

xoxo
Bethany

The Flowers Waited

I've always loved gardening. When I was a teen, I planted and maintained a vegetable garden at my parent's home one summer. When I got married and we lived in apartments, I had pots of herbs and flowers. When we moved into our new home, I planted roses, hibiscus, broccoli, nasturtiums. Yet, when we moved into our new house about 2 years ago, I put my gardening gloves on the shelf for a long time. The sheer exhaustion of living (being pregnant, having a baby, my knee injury) kept me from digging into our new dirt.Yet, I kept adding to my collection of houseplants thanks to various sales at Home Depot.

And now, I'm up to it again. I've been planting. And watering. And it makes me feel so peaceful.

So happy.

 

The flowers have been waiting for me. It is good to be back amongst them.