"Gutsy Lady" -All About Mom Challenge at Frosted Designs

Happy Friday Friends and Followers! Katie here to share the details of our brand new challenge that starts today! Our challenge this week is all about Mom! Whether you are a mom, stepmom. grandmother, or just hope to become a mother one day, sooner or later we all quote our mothers and we all hold them dear to our heart as fabulous women in our lives. Using inspiration from our mood board create any project, layout, card, or art journal page for this challenge! Link up to the blog no later than 12:00 midnight, Wednesday, May 21st to be entered to win Top 3 or the grand prize generously sponsored by Close to My Heart/ Amanda Baird. You will win a fabulous CMTH stamp set with block & a coupon for a future CTMH purchase! Please visit Amanda's website here.

Here is our lovely, yummy mood board to get your creative juices flowing :

Here are a few pictures of the layout I have created. Most of the items I used can be found in the Frosted Designs store!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I love getting & reading all your comments! I hope to be popping by to all your blogs soon to leave some comment love! Until next time Peace Y'all~

Love in Bloom with Basic Grey's Fresh Cut Collection

Hi everyone! I'm here to share a layout today I did using some of the new fabulous 'Fresh Cut' collection by Basic Grey. I have been dreaming of spring colors, warmer days, and this collection has it all! I think we can all agree that spring can't get here soon enough in the US. Its been a cold one, especially being my first winter in Oregon! We got snow!!

Here are a few close ups:

I started my layout without a picture in mind this time....I picked 2 of the geometric patterns with shades of green and anchored my layout at the bottom with some flowers- all fussy cut from one of the other papers. For dimension, I pop dotted some of them over top of the others. I had the perfect hot pink ric-rac the add to the bottom with staples for some more texture.

As I have been doing on alot of my projects lately, I used some more of the Studio Calico wood veneers, These were colored with a regular colorbox inkpad this time, an older one that I re-wetted and the wood seemed to soak the color right up. 

I enjoyed doodling around the wood hearts and bee stamps to create some movement up from my flower cluster at the bottom. I used stickles from the FD store as well as a white gelly roll pen. One last look:

That is all for today! I hope you enjoyed my share and are able to get your hands on some of this wonderful collection before it sells out!! I like the mix of geometric and floral patterns, it makes it very versatile for any occasion like most BG papers are, that's w:hy they are my fav!! Have a great weekend and I hope you get some time to get crafty :)

Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:

Basic Grey 'fresh cut' 12x12 collection pack

Ranger Dylusions ink spray 'white linen'

Maya Road metal trinkets- heart bubble

Studio Calico wood veneer hearts

Gelly Roll pen white

Stickles- frosted lace & fruit punch

All about Mountains!

Hi friends! I hope you've had a good start to your week. I have been off for the last 2 days and have been super busy...cleaning house, getting ready for showings, going to check on our new place that we get to move into in less than 2 weeks! I did get a little time to myself too, yesterday I went for my first solo hike since we've been in Oregon, just a short easy one in Mt Tabor park, but it was very refreshing and renewing, felt good to get some sunshine on my face! It has been super wet here latley. I also got a little free time today to start my next art journaling page. I was once again inspired by Sundays with Sandee over on the FD blog, if you haven't had the chance yet to watch her videos, you have to check them out! As soon as I saw  her pipette painting tutorial I knew I had to try it. I ordered a few more supplies from the Frosted Designs store, and in less than a week I was on my way! I also challenged my Aunt Vicki, who is my lifelong creative inspiration (very much like my mom!) to try it out. We are supposed to share our creations next week when we do our monthly facetime chat. I couldnt wait till then to share cause I was so proud of how it turned out, so here it is:

Also it doesn't hurt that this is probably my favorite Dr. Seuss quote of all time....

"Today is YOUR Day, Your Mountain is waiting, so GET on Your WAY!"

I used basically the same technique as Sandee did for my rough lines. I didn't remember to gesso the paper first or anything though so intial ink colors spread a little more than I hoped. At first I didn't think I would like it, it took a long time to try and I think I used too much water, but after I went back over the lines several times with a fine tip marker it grew on me. I also gesso'd the back of the pages cause they were worn so thin from me painting and smearing..that also took a while to dry and i tried my heat gun...needless to say I'm not a super patient person! LOL! I had to cover over a few places on the back too with tissue tape just to make sure the front wouldn't tear through....not really sure what I will end up doing with those pages, but I will know next time to gesso first!!

This is what the back of the page looks like, the inks bled through even after I gesso'd. It kind of made a need look but for functuatlity purposes I had to add the tissue tape.

It was good to experiment and try a new technique. It really gets your mind going. I have a few more projects to finish before I can start packing up my scrapping stuff. So excited for a bigger place where I will actually have an entire room to myself again instead of a dedicated corner of the laundry room. Plus I will have a large window above my desk!!! I am soooo excited for that, I just hate packing. The only good thing is that we hardly have any stuff compared to what we had in Alabama, we did a major purge before our 3000 mile trek so it should be easier this time. We get the keys on March 14th. Guess I better get going since I'm under a deadline.... see you next time! Thanks so much for stopping by todayI love all your comments!!!

Here are just a few pics I took on instagram during my hike, it was absolutley gorgeous yesterday and I am glad I got to enjoy it for a few hours outside!!! These are all from the base heading up to the 'summit' of Mt Tabor which is just a few miles from my house. It probaby took me about 1.5 hours to get to the top and back down on the easy trail which has partial stairs. It was alot of fun and I can't wait to go again on my next day off if i am not up to my ears in packing!!!

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Be as a Bird...

Hi friends! Happy Hump-day! I hope you are enjoying your week so far. I just had 2 days off so I was able to get in a little bit of crafty time. I had hoped we would also get to visit the park again one afternoon but it's been really windy here and rainstorms coming thru. Better comparativley to the snow we had about a week ago, but still yucky out. I did enjoy some time in my studio, the more time I spend back there I realize even though its small it's a place that makes me so totally and completly happy, surrounded by all my fun stuff, usually a cup of hot tea or iced coffee depending on the time of day, my pandora blasting away and plenty of inspiration from friends and fellow DT members. Today I wanted to share my 2nd ever art journal page that I did last night. I haven't tackled all of them and the million ideas that I have yet, but I am going to make it a goal to do one layout + one art journal page per week for the rest of the year. I think I can do it. I think it's nice too to go between the two, art journaling loosens up your mind and helps your creativity flow better, which in turn helps you scrap a page faster when you have good ideas!!! So the one I worked on last night was inspired by Sandee's " Out On A Limb" post on the FD blog a while back, like I said I am still catching up, hopping around here and there, I don't have as much free time as some, but this page probably only took me like 2.5 hours. That's about how long it takes me to do a layout too, I'm not sure if that makes me a slow scrapper!

Here is the inspiration photo:

And if you want to read more about how Sandee created her page, you can visit the FD archives here: sundays-with-sandee-is-out-on-limb. She has a great video & pictures.

Here is my page:

I did use the understamping for my page like she did, however I stamped directly on to my art journal then used some tissue paper that I misted with inks & water then dried. I found a great quote that I did on the side after drawing straight lines, then I started coloring in behind it with gelatos. I wanted some texture so I later added the chipboard flowers and washi tape.

The birds in the tree actually came from some old Basic Grey paper, I fussy cut them then decoupaged it onto my page. I went back over it with various pens and markers then stamped my other musical notes and did some doodles around those. I went back in with 3 different colors of stickles: christmas red, fruit punch, and tiara.

I dont know why but I felt like I needed something else at the top of my page, so I stamped this decorative frame and stuck a puffy sticker inside it. It's kind of random but I feel like it gives visual balance to the page, so much for WHITE SPACE, ha!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. i hope to have at least one more layout and art journal page to share this time with you next week! Maybe even some stuff for challenges coming up....who knows. The crafty bug has bit again and I am so glad!! It makes me happy to share and get feedback! I would love it if you followed my fb page here. Also on instagram @khhollister. Peace Yall! ~VV

Tuesday Night Music Club & The Monday Blues

Hi friends! The page I am sharing today was inspired by the mood  board challenge we have going on right now over at Frosted Designs. The challenge was to use the colors, photos or overall theme from our mood board to inspire your project! Here's a a peak at the board, entitled " winter blues"

I was mostly inspired by the overall color scheme of the board, the dark blues, the greenish blues, the teal-greenish blues in the blue bird and leaves, the brown from the branches, the warm pinkish hue from the latern, and the white for my background from the snow. I also really don't have alot of 'snow' pictures yet since we really haven't gotten any this year and I took the idea of the coffee cup and was inspired to use a pic of another type of drink. You could pretty much say I loosely intrpreted the mood board but it immediatley made me think of these very funny pictures that bring back alot of memories for me from August 2013. Here is a little sneak of me in mid-process... cup of cammomile tea on my desk! I took this one on instagram last night, I would love it if you'd follow me @khhollister

So here is a pic of how the overall layout turned out. I didnt originally intend to be so 'messy' last night but I was feeling inspired and had fun with some inks, mists, gelatos, and masks. I also didnt want to cover up my 'white' background too much so I ended up cutting up the other paper I wanted to use into hexagons and distressing all the edges.

I also covered the Um wow chipboards with dylusions spray in white linen. After I had them in place I doodled my rain drops. I added a few random embellies from my stash and to finish off my clusters some mini pearls and Prima Everyday Vintage Sugar Dots.

This lovely little lady was made with modge- podgeable shapes and some G45 paper. Ive had her in my stash for a while along with about 40 other shapes I decorated to sell at a convention I was working 2 years ago. I thought she was just perfect for this page & fit my blueish-green color scheme.

Well everyone, that is it for today! I hope you have enjoyed my messy page. It was alot of fun to make, sometimes going into something without a plan is actually better. I can't wait to get back in the studio and start a new art journal page as well as some other projects. I hope to have another share for you soon, maybe some birthday cards!!! Enjoy your day & don't forget you have plenty of time to join in our 'winter blues' challenge over at frosted designs. Link up your layout, project or card for a chance to be in our Top 3 or win a fabulous prize from our sponsor, which is a gift card to the fabulous frosted designs store!!!. Until next time, peace y'all~ VV

Products Used from the Frosted Designs Store: Fab Scraps 'shabby chairs' striped background paper, Bella Blvd Snapshots- dark blue cloud paper, Um Wow Chipboard layered clouds, Dylusions ink spray- white linen & calypso teal, Faber Castel Gelatos- teal & white, Faber Castel Gesso, Heidi Swapp Honeycomb stencil, Mini misters, Prima Everyday Vintage Sugar Dots, stickers from Carte Bella Wildflower collection pack.

Other: Tim Holtz distress ink in broken china, Crate paper- blue scalloped paper, mod podgeable shapes, mini crochet doilies Michael's, mini pearls Michaels 2 styles of Thickers by American Crafts, Tim Holtz distress stickles faded jeans.

Stuck?! Sketch Challenge + Ink sponsored by Frosted Designs

Hi everyone! And Happy New Year!! I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately, but it's not been on purpose. I got a major virus on Christmas Day with flu like symptoms and fatigue for 3 days, then right after that my hubby got the virus, only his morphed into stomach issues and he couldn't keep anything down for 4 days, while I am supposed to go back to work instead I'm spending all free waking moments taking care of him. So needless to say, we are almost 100% better but it was not that great of a holiday break for us :( I didn't even do any of the projects I had hoped to start except a few christmas cards that I made to send out to friends and family. I didn't even get to take pictures of them.  But enough of my whining! So sorry friends that you had to listen :(

What  I am here to share today is my reveal for the new challenge over at Frosted Designs! We are sponsoring STUCK?! Sketch of the month this time with a gift certificate to the store! If you haven't checked out all the new products we have in for the new year, you need to go look! We also have an awesome new twist to our monthly kits, a 'messy fun' option for those inky scrappers like myself who prefer mixed media style projects, or a 'clean fun' option for the more clean lined scrappers who like traditional elements on their pages. The best part about this is its all absolutley free! The messy or clean option is included in the price of the kit, or you can pay a little more and get both options!! Go check out the new 'Love is in the Air'  January kit today at www.frosted-designs.us

The sketch we are using this month is courtesy of STUCK?!

And here is my take on the sketch:

A few close ups of my project . I used papers from the Snapshots collection by Bella Blvd as well as Studio Calico Thataway stickers, Studio Calico wood veneer cameras, and Colorwash tags by Pink Paislee. For the tags I spray inked them with several mists and then inked the edges and doodled on some of them with black marker.

For the wood veneer cameras, I tried a new technique, I actually colored them in with black marker, then inked them up good with embossing ink then some UTEE 'Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel' then heated them. It gave them an overall shiny/ metallic kind of look which I really liked then I added some bling for the 'flash' on the cameras.

So I hope you will join in on our challege this month and play along with the sketch + plus use ink or mist on your card, layout, or off the page project. Link it up to our sidebar on at www.frosteddesigns.blogspot.com and you have until January 29th!!

Until next time, peace y'all~ VV