HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!

Let the festivities begin...there's a chill in the air, the leaves have all gone, and Christmas carols are being played on the radio. Starbucks has had their 'red' cups out for a while now, which we all know marks the kick-off of the holidays. Hope your Thanksgiving was a memorable one and I hope all of you here in Colorado took advantage of the beautiful warm weekend, after Thanksgiving, to get your decorations and lights up outside of your homes.

Onto the subject at hand.

I was on YouTube (of course) and came across a video by Laura Bassen. She is with Simon Says Stamp and she was sharing a Christmas card, Rainbow Christmas Trees, she made using a stencil and different Distress Inks by Ranger. The vivid colors and the slight overlapping of the trees was so pretty and cheerful. So I thought I would CAS her card for my Christmas cards this year.

Here is a link to her video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1wd-1oiUZs


...and here are two pics of my Christmas card created from CASing Laura's card.

with matching envelope

Supplies used:
white and hot pink cardstock
distress inks in mustard seed, spiced marmalade, barn door,
picked raspberry, peacock feathers, stormy sky, crushed olive,
mowed lawn, seedless preserves and salty ocean
gold embossing powder
versa mark ink
pop-dots
ATG glue gun
envelope punch board

Hope you enjoyed Laura's video and my take on her card. Have a wonderful & safe holiday and thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

Watercolor Pencils Journal Page

TGIF!
     
      Happy Friday all and glad you could stop by. It's warming up, with Summer officially here, and taking some time to create indoors where it's cool...thank goodness for ac! I came across a quote, where else but Pinterest LOL, and wanted to brush the dust off of my watercolor pencils and play. I had drawn out some flowers in my journal a couple of months back and thought the quote I found would be a great addition to the page. So I outlined them using my black LePen Permanent pen and then away I went, coloring in the flowers and their leaves with a couple of shades of watercolor pencils. I then went in with my paint brush and some water to meld the colors together. I really love the watercolor pencils since I am able to control the color so much better...although using watercolor cakes make playing such a surprise with the way they float and move to their own liking. I then added some watercolor through a stencil (DCWCV 5 x 7) and wrote the quote with the black LePen pen, again, and then added a highlighted side to the letters of the quote with my white uni-ball Signo pen.

The quote...'give everyday the chance to become the most beautiful of your life' by Mark Twain is a reminder to me to look at everything and everyone with a positive light. There is way too much negativity in this world and so many positives that sometimes get overlooked...so I wanted to use bright happy colors to paint the flowers.

I had a lot of relaxation doing this journal entry and I'm hoping to play some more with my watercolor pencils and watercolor paints.


Have a beautiful weekend and take some time to do some creative play!

~Karen

Art Journal Page

Happy Monday All!

Well, we've received some Spring snowfall. It started yesterday afternoon and stopped snowing sometime in the wee hours of this morning. I know that the moisture is greatly needed here for the upcoming spring/summer time, but I'm truly over winter. Thank goodness the sun is shining today and I can see the snow melting. The sound of the birds' songs, along with the sunshine, brings me back that it really is Spring! 

Anywhoo...I wanted to share another art journal page. I had started this drawing back in 2013 and have come back to finish it. I do enjoy my coffee in the mornings and so this drawing reflects the warmth and comfort that first cup of java gives me. The swirls of coffee names around the drawing's head rises up from the steam of the hot coffee. Again, I colored this with Prisma color pencils and blended with gamsol. The 'steam' was created with chalk pencils and smeared with a tiny cotton ball.

I hope Spring is in full bloom where you are and I encourage you to do a little 'creative play' today.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

Art Journal Entry

Hello All!

I'm sharing another entry in my art journal. This is a drawing I did sometime in 2013 and I finally got around to coloring it and added a poem from an unknown author. The drawing was done on  mixed media paper and was colored with Prisma color pencils and blended with gamsol. I used my chalks and colored the background. 

Here it is.....

Love is like a Butterfly: it goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by! Have a beautiful day and create something today!

~Karen

Art Journal Page

Hello All!

I sure hope your are getting some Spring weather! Winter has really been trying to keep a hold on our weather here. We've had crazy roller coaster- like days...warm and sunny one day and then cold winds, gray skies and snowfall. I have to say that Winter sure is giving Spring a fight, LOL.

So I've had some time to finally work in my art journal. The problem with me is that I love to work with all kinds of mediums, hence, sometimes not getting too far in the creative process. The one thing I have done since I was a little girl is draw. I use to draw paper dolls and 'mermaid' paper dolls for my sister and our friends, just drawing on any kind of paper. We would color them, cut them out and just PLAY! So I am finally getting back to my drawing and I'm enjoying it.

.I've started out by drawing the lady's face and then watercoloring her. I then watercolored my background and added drops of alcohol to represent spots of 'sparkle'.  I cut the lady's head out and adhered her to the background. I added stickles, glossy accents and sequins to the background and added the title 'find your SPARKLE'. 

This entry has really sparked the itch to do some more drawings...I definitely will be squeezing in some time to do just that!

Thanks for stopping by and create something today!

~Karen

Card Share

Good Morning All!

Three more days until the first day of Spring...I am so looking forward to it! We have been up and down, where I live, with snow and then warm sunshine. My tulips are poking through the ground and I've noticed some tiny green leaves emerging from the mums. Blue skies, warm days and a slight coolness to the breeze will be so welcomed! : )

Onto my latest card I made. It's a birthday card for my brother. I have such a hard time thinking of 'masculine' card recipes, since I love all of the beautiful flowers, gems and laces out there to adorn our cards and scrap pages. I do think it came out ok, and he let me know he liked it . 

Here is the card...

I did have fun making this card and it came together pretty quickly. The only thing I had forgotten was my brother was turning 40!!! Oh well...I guess I should have had a V8...LOL...when I phoned him on his birthday I explained my forgetfulness and he reassured me it was alright (his next birthday I'm really going to have to make his card really special).

So there you have it folks! I hope Spring has sprung where you all are and go ahead and create something today!

Enjoy the day~

~Karen

Altered Clipboard Swap 2014...take 2

Good Day to All!

I'm enjoying another Spring-like day today and hope you, too, are having a wonderful day! I thought I would take a moment and write before I get on with my day of errands and chores.

As promised, I wanted to share the clipboard I received from the Altered Clipboard Swap I participated in with the scrapbook group I belong to. My partner was Jodie, the Douglas County Scrapbook Group's organizer and one of my friends. Let me just say...GORGEOUS! Jodie asked me what style or theme I would like my clipboard to be and I said I really like shabby chic, I also like color, but not dark colors and to just surprise me. Wow...did she surprise me! 

Take a look...

Isn't this sooo pretty? She covered the clipboard with a beautiful pink paper that has a white flocked motif. Two rows of bling line the top and a dainty paper lace border lies below it. A dramatic blinged out clip is so gorgeous and I still can use the clip to hold a photo or small calendar. The bottom is adorned with bits of a crochet doily, paper roses, pearls, sprays of flowers, rhinestones and beads. A butterfly, rhinestone crown and birdbath with birds are tucked among the roses with a sparkly feather-like accent and a soft white feather, too.

Can we all say OMG?!?? Every bit of this clip is blinged out with pearls and rhinestones! So much yumminess clustered together. : )

Here is a close-up of the bottom of the clipboard. Beautiful paper roses she touched with gesso and sprinkled with glitter. Notice the pretty floral sprays that climb up the sides of the board along with the touches of pearls, special accents and doilies? I can tell so much love was put into this project and I'm so honored to be the recipient of this masterpiece!

Thank you Jodie for my clipboard!  : )

 To see more detail on this clipboard, and other great videos, you can go to Jodie's YouTube channel....

MissPurplePotato

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

Altered Clipboard Swap 2014

Hello All!

I welcomed the sunshine and Spring-like warmth today and I'm relishing it while we have it. It is a happy pause in between the days of snowfall, which will be heading our way, again, in a day or two...sigh...

I attended the monthly get-together at the scrapbook club that I'm a member of (the Douglas County Scrapbook Group led by our wonderful and talented organizer Jodie) two evenings ago. She hosted another fun swap that challenged me creatively, which is always good, for I need to expand on new techniques and sometimes be pushed outside my comfort zone.

So this swap was an 'Altered Clipboard Swap' and we were paired with a partner, according to the order in which we signed up to participate. The rules were pretty much carte blanche...use a clipboard of any size and ask your partner what theme/style she would like to have on her clipboard. Oh what fun this was! My partner, which happened to be Jodie, wanted a wedding theme so she could display a wedding photo of her son and daughter-in-law 'to be' from their upcoming wedding this June. Let me tell you, the ideas and thoughts that started swirling around in my brain had me sketching out some 'recipes' for the clipboard. I finally came up with a plan and gathered my supplies. Intimidated at first, I began to trim, paint, glue and bead...yes, I said bead.

So let me show you some photos of my finished project!

This photo doesn't do it justice, but it is done in whites, creams, a touch of pale lt. blues & pale lt. pinks. The frame will be able to hold a 4 x 6 photo. I asked my mother to please crochet two 3" doilies for this project and she graciously did. : )  My grandmother worked most of her adult life making wedding gowns and I acquired some of the bridal trims she had used in her works. So I had to add some of the trims, of course, to this wedding themed clipboard. I came across a wonderful and super fun technique on Pinterest for what I call 'faux' porcelain roses. I will put the link for the tutorial from this very creative lady's blog at the end of this blog entry. I will also include some of the supplies I used to make this project.

This is a close-up of the flower cluster that includes some of the 'faux' porcelain flowers & leaves. A handmade stick pin, Prima clock face, some rhinestone sprays, small glittered dove and handmade seam binding finish off this cluster.

A close-up of the beaded chain I made and then I added a white chain, clip and some charms from my stash along with some Art-I-Cake charms I took apart and revamped.

A look at the back of the clipboard. I punched some borders out of paper and added a lace panel, another addition from my mother, and made a pocket from some paper doilies I actually received in a goodie box from Jodie. I thought it would be sweet to type up a short wedding poem which I found on the internet. I cut it into a tag and tied some tulle through the punched hole at the top. On the back of the tag I wrote what items my mother and grandmother contributed to this project for Jodie.

The group has already swapped the clipboards and let me say that not only did I LOVE the clipboard I received, but was amazed at all of the talent and ideas the other ladies came up with. I will post the clipboard I received on my next post.

Happy crafting to you all and thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

Flower tutorial: One More Time Events by Tammy @

 www.onemoretimeevents.com/2013/05/how-to-make-plaster-of-paris-flowers.html

Supplies:  clipboard from Wal-mart

                    papers: Basic Grey's Little Black Dress 'Best Dressed'

                                Teresa Collins Family Stores 'Noted'

                    paints (white, bubble gum pink, pool blue & banana yellow): Apple Barrel

                    metal photo corners: Momenta

                    charms: misc. and parts of Art-I-Cake (Charm Me 'I Do' charm added later)

                    silk flowers

                    plaster of paris: DAP

                    handmade seam binding made from white batiste fabric

                    dove

                    white chain

                    silver findings

                    6mm glass pearls

                    balsa wood frame from Michael's

                    crackle medium: Weathered Wood by Americana

                    large white flower with pearl center: Recollections

                    handmade stick pin

                    rhinestone sprays from Hobby Lobby

                    white crochet doilies: my Mother

                    assorted laces & trims: my Grandmother, Hobby Lobby & misc.

                    charm frame from Michael's

                    clock face: Prima

                    flat-back pearls: K&COmpany

Card Share

Hello all!

It's been a while since I've shared anything with you. Hope your holidays of 2013 were wonderful and blessed and now onto 2014!

I have a friend who recently had knee surgery and I wanted to send her a card to hopefully brighten her day while she was recuperating.  I thought...how about sending her some SUNSHINE (get it, brighten her day...sunshine...LOL)! Anywhoo, I had some dry embossed pieces of paper I had made from different embossing folders and went through my stash. I came across a 'cloud' embossed piece (not sure the name of the embossing folder, maybe from Stampin' Up?) and thought how cute it would be for a background for a sun. 

I did some watercolor for the sky part and then cut out a large circle from yellow cardstock for the sun. I then cut out some rays for the sun, from the same cardstock, and cut out cheeks from pink cardstock and a nose from a light orange cardstock. I glued on the cheeks and nose to the sun and drew on the sun's face, then highlighted the cheeks and nose with a white gel pen. I cut out three circles from three different shades of green cardstock and layered them on top of each other to create fields of grass. I punched out some flowers and leaves to add to the grass areas and added stickles to the centers of the flowers. I then printed out the sentiment and cut it into a banner shape for the front of the card. 

I think it turned out pretty cute and hope it will bring a smile to my friend's face!

Happy Crafting All!

~Karen~