Happy Pi Day!

It's my son's favorite holiday...well, OK, his third favorite after his birthday and Christmas. Today is Pi Day. He asked if I would make a card for his math teacher. How could I say no?

First, I stamped the actual number onto cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Quinn's 123s and Aquamarine Archival ink. I then stamped the birds and word bubbles from the Lawn Fawn A Birdie Told Me set. Lawn Fawn just released a coordinating bunch of dies called Lawn Cuts so it took no time at all to assemble my card. I used Harold's ABCs (another Lawn Fawn set) to stamp 'Happy' and 'Day'. As for the Pi symbol, I got lucky. There She Goes Clear Stamps has an adorable set called Cutie Pi. The sentiment actually said You're a cutie Pi but I trimmed off the words. I colored with my Copics and then added some texture to my symbol using the Lawn Fawn Belinda's Borders set. Voila, a Happy Pi Day card. I thinks this calls for pie.

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Bunny

Here are two cards I created using the new Garden Critters release from Penny Black. I simply stamped the images, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card. I adhered my Copic-colored panels to card bases and attached Easter grass for texture.


I'm entering these in the current CASology Challenge. Week 34s theme is BUNNY.

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Sending Hugs

Here's a quick card using the new Lawn Fawn 'Lawn Cuts' dies and Daphne's Closet papers. I have always been a huge fan of Lawn Fawn. With the release of these dies, I am more in love with this company than ever! I can't believe how easy it was to line up the stamped image with the die. My only complaint is that I don't have a Lawn Cuts die for every one of my Lawn Fawn stamps. Believe me, these dies are so worth it.

My card uses Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest (critters), A Birdie Told Me (stamp set & die for word bubble) and So Much to Say (sentiment) as well as patterned paper from the new Daphne's Closet petite paper pack and Lawn Trimmings natural hemp cord. My tiny heart was created from a tiny die included in the A Birdie Told Me Lawn Cuts set.

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Poppies Everywhere

With all of my new found free time, I've noticed a few things. Poppies are everywhere. There are a ton of poppy images out there. You see poppies on cards, scrapbook pages and art journals. I'm not complaining. I love poppies. I've also noticed that it's trendy right now to use your old, favorite stamps. So Sunday night, everyone was doing their own thing and I was in my craft studio with the Oscars playing in the background. What a perfect time to pull out an oldie, my favorite poppy stamp.

I started by generously painting both pages with a mixture of dark and light magenta plus orange acrylic paint. After my pages dried, I covered them completely with gesso. Next I pulled out a Martha Stewart Home Decor stencil. While holding it in place, I carefully wiped the stencil openings with a baby wipe. This removed the gesso and gave the flowers a cool gradated look. Using Dove Gray StazOn ink, I randomly stamped the Cling Music Score and Cling Conservatory stamps, both from Stampendous.

Next came the teal paint. During my free time, I have also noticed that teal must be my favorite color. I've been cleaning my studio and I have found 16 various teal ink pads from Memento, Ranger Distress and Archival, ColorBox, and VersaMagic (to name a few). I even have two shades of teal inkpads that were made for a local scrapbook store. I found several tubes of teal paint in all forms - acrylic, foam, fabric, even glass. I've discovered every teal mist/spray that's available on the market, teal stickles and 3D paint and then there are the pencils and markers. Does any one person really need teal alcohol markers from Copic, Mepxy and Spectrum Noir? Did I mention my Martha Stewart stencil is teal-colored?... I digress.

I lightly spread teal paint over my pages using an embossing paste tool and then added some washi tape and rub ons. I stamped the poppies ( from a discontinued Stampendous set called Poppy Bottles) onto Neenah white cardstock, colored them with my Prismacolor Premier pencils, then trimmed and adhered them to my journal with Gel Matte Medium.

This is where it all went astray. Remember I said I was listening to the Oscars? The next thing I knew, I was adding the title of this old Barbara Streisand tune to my page. Seriously? Cheesy, huh? The dimensional flowers were created by cutting several sizes of circles out of satin and tulle and melting the edges over the heat of a candle.

There you have it. My adventure in poppies.
Lesson Learned - Never drink and use rub ons while listening to Barbara Streisand.



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Life is Art

I recently stepped down from my Design Team spot with the Stampendous Graphics/Catalog Team and from my teaching position at my local scrapbook store. Life is changing. The funny thing is I just can't stay away from my messy little studio and my art. I thought I could walk away but I can't.

So I thought I would try my hand at mixed media journaling. Funny, but I can't walk away from my beloved Stampendous stamps either. This wonderful Life is Art sentiment is a relatively new Stampendous stamp. You can find it here. This is the first inking of the Stampendous Dragonfly Vine, wish I had inked it before now. It's definitely going in my "keep close" pile. The tiny ticket is from the Stampendous Carousel Circus Perfectly Clear set.

Lots of other supplies were used: some leftover dyed cheesecloth from a Halloween card, a funky treble clef paperclip from Staples, washi tape, Tsukineko Goosebumps Texture Spray and way too much paint and ink. If you are new to mixed media, I buy all of my paints, inks, sprays and stencils at Ellen Hutson LLC. The service is amazing and even though my package has to travel across the country, I always get my goodies in a few days. The packing people at Ellen Hutson do an excellent job of wrapping and packing things so that your new product arrives in pristine shape at your front door.



Included on my page is one of my favorite photos, a picture of my mother and aunt, best guess, in high school. I've always wondered what piece they were playing and imagine it to be one of my grandfather's favorite melodies that he was always whistling. My mother went on to become a wonderful violinist and music teacher and my aunt, an extraordinary watercolor artist and teacher. Both of them were extremely instrumental in my love of the arts. I am grateful that I had such wonderful exposure to both music and the visual arts. There was always music in our house. Violinists came and went, there were orchestra concerts, and of course my music lessons. I'm thankful that my parents gave up so much to give me all of those years of piano and violin lessons, without it I would not be a piano teacher. I would not know the joy music can provide nor would I have the ability to lose myself in this form of expression. Even though I didn't see my aunt very often, her art was always present. Her paintings hung on our walls and her thrown pots lined our shelves. She frequently sent my sisters and I amazing presents like a hand painted brooch that I still have today to a tabletop loom, hand-formed and painted paper mache puppets she made in college, marionettes, rich waxy colored pencils... The thing I loved the most was this huge painted canvas that was propped in a corner of our basement. I wish I had that canvas to hang on my wall. It was so cool. As a child, I loved to look at its splatters of paint. I later came to learn there was something painted underneath that my aunt didn't like and she simply was covering it up with washes and layers.

Today, while adding layers of gesso and paint, I was reminded of that great canvas. Life is Art.

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Ruff Day?

My dad has been feeling a little under the weather lately so I thought I'd send a card to let him know I'm thinking of him. This new Stampendous Cling Doctor Kiddo is perfect. I stamped the image onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and colored it with my Copic markers. I created the sentiment on my computer. The background panels were made using My Mind's Eye Blink of an Eye patterned paper. A button, jute and some tulle and my card is done. You can check out all of the new Stampendous products here.


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My Heartfelt Wish

I've been very blessed to have met so many wonderful people through this crazy crafty world from my absolutely amazing students at Scrapbook Art to the extradordinary women that I have been fortunate to meet through design teams. Valentine's Day is winding down but I don't want it to end without letting you know that you've all been in my thoughts.

Here is a dish I made a couple of weeks ago using the new Stampendous Jumbo Daisy and Flower Path stamps. These are two of my favorites...LOVE them. The new Stampendous jumbos now come with a corresponding mask/template that you can use for mixed media projects...just another reason why Stampendous products are so great. You can check out all of the new Stampendous release here.

To create the dish, I started with an unglazed ceramic dish and prepped it by coating it with Mod Podge. I stamped both the daisy image and sentiment onto tissue paper using Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black Ink. I then colored the daisy with Prismacolor Colored Pencils. After trimming closely around both, I adhered them to the plate with Mod Podge. To give the plate a shiny, glazed look, I generously coated the top of the plate with Beacon's Fast Finish Decoupage. A heart is not a heart unless it is red so after the Fast Finish dried, I turned the plate over, painted the rim red and again applied Fast Finish. Acrylic paint worked perfectly for this.

The theme of this month's Stampendous Challenge is Love is in the Air, share a creation of love. I am definitely sharing this. I know the gals at Stampendous would love to see your creations as well. You can find all of the details here.


Thanks to all of you who have reached out to me this last week. It means a lot. So on Valentine's Day, my heatfelt wish to you all: May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day!

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