National Scrapbooking Month

Yay! May is here! Actually, around here, winter is still hanging on.

This picture of my backyard was taken yesterday, May 1st! 

The sound of birds chirping made for a brighter day!

I know I have been a hit or miss blogger lately, but National Scrapbooking Day/Month, usually gets me into a scrapping mood! National Scrapbooking Day is this Saturday, May 4th. At Close To My Heart it is called National Scrapbooking Month! They are celebrating the month with a unique paper packet at a bargain price. Watch the video to get your creative juices flowing! 

And here are some close up shots of projects made with the paper pack.

Click HERE to place an order. 

And here is a look at the stamp of the month that was mentioned in the video.

This is one of those stamp sets you will pull out for all different kinds projects!

Thanks for looking in today. I hope to play along with some challenges taking place this weekend. Then I'll have some layouts to show you next week!

More from the Art Journal!

Hello my loverly blogging friends!

To start things off today, I have a question for you?

Has spring sprung yet in your neck of the woods?

Not here!

We have about 18 inches of snow on the ground. It has been snowing since Sunday (writing this on Wednesday). Really though--I can't complain, we need the precipitation desperately. We need even more rain or snow this month in order not to be on water restrictions this summer.

You know the saying "April showers bring May flowers"?

I've changed it to

"April snow will help things grow"! 

Now, here is the piece I will share with you today.

The face is kind of quirky, but I like her!
For the background, I glued down some colorful strips torn from a magazine, then gessoed and spread acrylic paint over it. then I drew the girl, and wrote out the scripture. I'm learning that there are some acrylic paints that my fine point, black pens don't write well over so I had to use the brush tip from a Copic Marker to write on this.

I can't tell you has much this scripture helped me the past few months.

Philippian 4:8

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable,

and right, and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Thank you, friends, for looking in today.

If you are a follower, looking for scrapbooking layouts, cards or paper crafts, don't worry I haven't abandoned that form of crafting! Right now, I'm just exploring another from of creativity! Thanks for sticking with me!

Art Journal

Ohhhh--I can't tell you how much fun I have been having with this; my first Art Journal! Nothing fancy--I took a magazine and glued every two pages together. Then I glued on scrap paper, threw on gesso, paint, and sprays for the background then drew, wrote, collaged or what ever I felt like. I'm totally experimenting with everything. I've been trying out different styles from talented people I follow online. I've been practicing different lettering styles, practicing faces and just plain having fun with color!

So first up are the first two pages.

Not the best--I always thought I would be going in and adding more writing, but I was thrilled with how the face turned out! I had just finished reading Miss Timmins' School for Girls and was thinking about the main character who had a "blot" on her face.

Next I followed the style of Tracy Moore. She has an awesome YouTube series on background, collage, and lettering. (Click here for the first in the series) After watching it, I created these two pages.

Again--I will probably write in open spaces, just haven't done so yet.
Teesha Moore's website is a huge inspiration for me too.
(I'm pretty sure Tracy and Teesha are one and the same!)

That's all for today.
Thanks for stopping by.
♥

Studio J Layouts

Thanks to Studio J, I was able to get some layouts completed in February.

I'm really a traditional scrap booking kind of girl,

but you got to love how fast and easy it is to do layouts in Studio J!

I just loved this kit selection that is exclusive to Studio J. It was perfect for this summer pool party!

You receive a JPG file of your layouts right away from Studio J.

To protect the identity of my son's friends, I distorted their faces in FotoFlexer.

A pretty cool place to mess with pictures.

I've also been using PicMonkey a lot lately.

It hardly took me any time at all to complete these four, 2-page layouts of my son's 11th birthday. Um-yea, that was three and a half years ago! It's about time I got them done. Thank you Studio J!

Do you have some pictures that have been waiting to make it into an album? Why don't you give Studio J a try? You can play there all you want and not have to order anything! Have fun!

NOTE: This is the second post for today! If you are looking for doodles--please keep scrolling!

Doodle Time

Valentines was the inspiration for this one done in Febrary.

Gelly Roll pens gave me the vibrant colors.

This fun girl was inspired by Rachel Awes.

Visit her blog, All I Did Was Listen, it is full of bright colors and happiness!

And now, I'll leave you with a picture of my back porch today, April 15, 2013.

ughhhh--the winter that won't end!

A Zentangled Fool!

Doodling, zentangling and art journaling have been my escape the past few months. 

This week I will post some of those above mentioned pieces I have finished.

I know I'm not the best at this, but I do enjoy the zentangle process!

Thanks for looking in today!

♥

One Month Ago Today

I've been missing from action with my blog the past few months. My mother passed away March 13th, and I am just starting to come out of the fog. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January so it all happened so fast. She lived in Overland Park, KS, where I grew up, and I live 700 miles away in Colorado. We were in town for Christmas, then I was back four more times between January and March.

My crafting gene came from my mom, she painted the shirt she is wearing in the picture above! Along with crafting, she loved music, gardening, reading, animals, and playing bridge. She loved nature and appreciated the simple things in life. Hmmmm---I think I just described myself!

Thank you mom!

I love you.

♥

Love this Quote!