Back at it!

Hi friends and followers. I cant believe it's been so long since I've updated here. Right at 6 months! What can I say? Life has been pretty hectic. Since July I have changed positions with the company I'm currently working for 3 times, and I've changed locations 3 times as well. It seems now though that things are finally starting to settle back down and that couldnt happen soon enough for me. I've been really working my butt off lately. 

Along with work craziness comes stress and I've been dying to get back into the studio. I finally got the chance last week and completed an arf journal page I've been wanting to do for a while, inspired by the Sundays with Sandee series over at the Frosted Designs blog. Here is the inspiration page created by Sandee Setliff:

Here are a few photos of what I created. I did a 2 pager and added a vase to my table. I used patterned paper for the table top that reminded me of tile. For the flowers I used brown coffee filters. 

This is the whole page:







I hope to have much more to share with you soon. I'm officially #backatit in the studio creating. It feels so great to get some fun time in. I have lots of things planned for the summer so stay tuned! Here are some sneaks of my ideas:

Dollar Store revamped wedding cards for all those weddings you're attending!
Mermaid drift wood beachouse sign
Tim's Tags of 2015, I've got to catch up!
More art journaling
Bottlecap windchime
Scrappy pages
Father's day shadow box
Mixed media canvases

That is about all for now! Thanks for reading!
Until next time- VV

Quick Card Share & welcome October

Hi friends!! It's been entirely too long since I've updated here. Life has been hectic to say the least! I got a big promotion at work and with me transferring stores I've got a much longer commute- which means less crafty time at night & earlier mornings. I'm happy where I'm at and I know it's a move in the right direction for us financially. We are still hoping to buy our first home the end of next year if all goes well.

A few weeks ago i made this birthday card for a co-worker of mine, Nina. She loved it! I am really happy with how it turned out considering it only took me 35 mins in the mornjng before work. I used a pre-made tag from scrsp convention a few years ago. I added some more flowers and buttons, vintsge of course. I love sharing art i have made with other people, especially for their special day.Here are a few pics:

Well, that is about all for today! I'm off to finish my Halloween decor and msybe start on Tim's Tags for 2014... yep im almost a year behind! I might skip around and just do the October one. I hsve so many projects i want to start, just less time now to do them.

Hope you have a great week! Check back tomorrow for more inspiration.. i promise to not be away for so long again!!

Classroom Wall Hanging

Hi friends! I hope you are having a fabulous day! I know things have been pretty good here, I just love summertime and I have been really trying to allow myself more and more time to create on my off days. It really feeds my soul and helps me zone out from stress- work stress, money stress, etc. It's my own little place in the world where I can be for hours by myself and come out feeling like I'm in a much better mood than before.

Today I am sharing a wall hanging I did for my sister's classroom. She just recieved her graduate degree in English Literature Education from the University of Alabama. She was an undergrad at Birmingham Southern before that, and even though she is my younger sister, I really look up to her in so many ways. This will be her first year teaching and along with helping her build a classroom library, I wanted to make her a little something special. She and her hubby were visiting me in Portland back at the end of March for Spring Break and we went to Powell's Books of course...famous bookstore one entire city block! I found this quote on a card and it inspired me, I thought I could take that quote and do something with it.

So I started off with a piece of scrapwood from Hubby's work, I did a thin layer of gesso over it first. Then I started laying down some paper pieces with modge podge. I used alot of pieces from a Tim Holtz set that looked like an old book page, an old library card, and layered them. I did another layer of modgepodge.

1. 

Then I went to work making the 'girl' I traced the shape of a girl I had from scrapbook paper, then seperatley cut out her dress and hair with different paper. I glued them together then went over them with a marker and then a white gelly roll pen for the polka dots on her dress. I used some mini pearls for her earrings, braclet and barette. I went back over her hair with a few different markers, then I let her dry. 

After she was dry I cut out some random scrap pieces for 'books' and I had to redraw her hand from the original pose to make it look more realistic. I modge podged her to the right side of the wood and then finished coloring in the lamppost and sign.

For the finishing touches, I used a piece of metal tape for one side of the lamp post and I went back over it several times with a wet brush and  a black gelato. I also glued down one of my vintage trinkets from prima- the lightbulb!  Last I laid down the letters. A mix of glitter thickers that I went over with Tim Holtz distress ink in barn door, and sticker letters that I traced with a white gelly roll pen. I went back with more stickles in christmas red and copper, then added a few enamel dots. I went back over the white areas with another coat of gesso just to make the image look cleaner, then heated well to dry! 

Well that's about it for today. I hope you have enjoyed my share. It took me several evenings to get it done but I am very pleased with the outcome and I'm off to mail it to my sis tomorrow morning!! I have several more ideas and projects in the works...I hope to be able to share them with you soon! I am looking forward to more creative time this week in between work, cooking, cleaning, and walks with hubby. Enjoy your week & until next time, Peace Yall~

Mediation Monday

Good evening blogland friends! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I know I sure did. I just got back late Thursday night from a trip home to New Orleans &Mobile. It was a great trip and I was sad to leave, so many people to see and things to do while I was home! Hubby wasn't able to make the trip with me, we have been really focusing on our finances this year to try and get in the right position to buy a house in the next 10-16 months. So when we got our tax money back, paying off some bills was top prority and getting an extra plane ticket wasn't. He was sad to not be able to go with me, and visit my parents, but he also would have exhausted all his vacation time for the rest of the year. Here are just a few photos from the days in New Orleans, for my best friends wedding, and then some from home. When I got back hubby and I had two great days enjoying the fabulous weather here, Fleet Week in Downtown Portland then a drive out to the coast to meet a contracter at the beachhouse, we are trying to get the renovations done and his mom moved out there asap!! Enjoy the pics:

Fairhope, Alabama :

Amos my parent's cat

Fleet week:

Oceanside, Oregon:

During vacation I did have alot of time to myself, on the plane rides and such and I was able to think about somethings. An upcoming promotion that I will hopefully be getting by the end of the summer, which is ideally bringing more hours on my plate than I already work but more $$ as well which we need. Also I thought alot about my creative journey and how I would LOVE to one day have it soley as my job. But it takes alot of hard work to get there. I have been on an international design team for over a year now and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on it. Not to mention the inspiration from other ladies, and the exposure it has given my blog. But the more I thought about it, with what lies ahead, I think it may be time for me to take a break. I have so many creative things in the works and I barely get free time to myself in between work, trying to stay fit by planning heathly meals for us for the week, walking as much as possible, and all the other responsiblities of life. So I have decided to take a leave next term from this team, and regroup and refocus and see where I am in 6 months. I had so many people from the wedding (bridesmaids and family members) tell me that I should be selling my custom guest book and wedding signs etsy. Well that is another story. I have alot of ideas and have listed etsy items before, but I guess now with renewed interest I should try again. I hope to head in that direction and at least have a few things listed by next month. That is the goal! Pics to come soon from the wedding of the signs I did, just waiting for the photos to come to me from the bride ;)

 Enjoy your week and I hope you get some creative time to yourself this week! I will be spending the next few hours in my studio and I hope to have lots more to share with you soon!! Until next time, Peace Y'all~

'Girls of Summer' June SF Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your day whatever it is that you're doing...I am fortunate to be off work today and home enjoying some chill time with my kitty cat. Jimmy is working but he gets off at 4 and I think we may go see a movie!! I love the movies!! We were going to try and see the fireworks tonite from the Battleship but it's storming pretty badly here and I don't know when it's supposed to clear up. By radar, we are pretty covered with heavy storms for the next few hours...so no outdoor fun  4th of July pooltime for me:( Oh well, may be catching the fireworks on tv tonite!! 

So this is a LO that I did a few weeks back for the June Sketch Challenge over at Scrapping Frenzy. Each of the DT members were given the same paper and supplies to use, and the same sketch, and just 'make it our own'! This is the sketch we were given:

And this is what my LO looks like:

And here are a few closies:

I made the banner by hand using the Basic Grey paper, the shimmery beige cardstock, and the orange cardstock which I cut out by hand and then glued to some baker's twine using Glossy Accents. I inked all the edges of the paper before gluing them in Tim Holtz distress ink in black soot. To make the banner pop even more, I went over a few of the flags with stickles in 'black diamond' and glued a little mini wooden heart to one of the flags. 

I also enjoyed using some of the leftover scraps to make these little mini pennants. Using the shimmery cardstock again and orange cardstock, I cut them by hand and glued them to some memo pens by MME 'Miss Caroline' embellishment kit. 

 For the title, I cut 'GIRLS' out on my cricut using the life's a beach cartridge in white cardstock. Then I colored in the letters with a black marker, leaving some of the white peaking out. Over that I sprayed them with Smooch Spritz in silver foil and then let them dry. The rest of the title I doodled on by hand.

I hope you enjoyed my share today! I have lots more stuff that I've done recently to put up, but I like saving one per post, so I'll be back tomorrow with something new :) Enjoy your 4th of July and be safe! Until next time, Peace y'all~ VV

Scrapping Frenzy Supplies List:

shimmery taupe cardstock

orange cardstock-Bazzil

cloud9design Bloomin' Love paper, 

Basic Grey 'Out of Print' Batik

Want2Scrap black blingys

Queen & Co baker's twine red/white

Tim Holtz distress ink 'black soot'

Glossy Accents

Stickles by Ranger in 'black diamond'

Smooch Spritz by Clearsnap in 'silver foil'

Other Supplies:

Miss Caroline Collection-decorative pins by MME

paper flowers by Prima Marketing

Fabric button by Purple Pumpkin crafts

chipboard stickers-unknown

scalloped edge scissors

{True Blue Friend} :SF June theme challenge

Hello everyone! I am back today to share with you another layout for June using our color theme for this month which is blue and white! First I want to give you a little mini tutorial about how I created the background for this page and also my inspiration for this page and my 'jumping off point". I actually was really inspired by a LO we have hanging up at Scrapping Frenzy that was made by Suzanne. We were given the same paper in our June DT kit so I took some of the elements from her page such as layering and painting, and translated it to my page. Also I found this photo that was taken in June of 2006 the year one of my best friends graduated from Harvard when the other bestie and I traveled all the way to Boston to see her walk in person! (and visit a bit of course!) It was such a great trip I have alot of memories from it!! Okay, well on with the layout, here is the inspiration LO by the lovely Suzanne Austin!!

For the background, I used some light blue craft paint mixed with crackle medium and dry-brushed it across the background. I wanted to add more 'blue' to the page so that's what I came up with. When that was dry I traced over the paper design with stickles in 'true blue' and 'orange peel'. I let it dry overnight and this is how it came out:

And, going on the layering idea that Suzanne did in the inspiration layout, I used several kinds of items to give it lots of layering for a really funky look! Including some Tim  Holtz paper, cardboard, cream colored cardstock, a crochet doily and lots of other stuff! I really like how it turned out:

 And here are some close ups, just so you can see all the detail!! (My favorite part)

Ok, well that's all I have for you today! I hope you were inspired to funk up the background of your pages and get a little messy with some paint and stickles!!! Enjoy the weekend :D

Scrapping Frenzy Supplies: 

Ruby Rock-It "The Summerhouse" background paper, Reminisce cardstock stickers "the freedom collection", Moxxie "God Bless America" blue paper, cream colored cardstock, Stickles- orange peel, true blue, and TH collection faded jeans, Colorbox fluid chalk ink cat's eye 'brown' and 'butterscotch', Glossy Accents, sticky thumb pop dots.

Other supplies: 

Tim Holtz' 'Lost and Found' paper, Prima flowers, Recollections- teal button, teal resin flower, blue/gold flower, and metal brad.  Air mail sticker, orange glitter ribbon, blue crochet doily-Purple Pumpkin Crafts, paper clip flower-Pier 1 Imports

Design Team *F*U*N*

Good Evenin' Y'all!! I am here tonite to share some inspiration and fun projects made by me and the other lovely ladies of the 2012 Scrapping  Frenzy Design team. This past Saturday, we had a little meet and greet at the store and we got to share some of our favorite products, projects, and techniques as well as enjoy eachother's company. I didn't take pictures of everything, cause there was so much to see and so much going on! But just enough to give you all some good ideas and daily inspiration~ stay tuned, cause there's a

PHOTO-HEAVY POST AHEAD!!!

First up, is a lovely LO that is on display near the front of the store by the very, very talented, amazing, Suzanne Austin!! I had to snap a shot of this because I have this same paper and I loved the textures and layering she used under her photo! You can see already how much talent is ont his team!

 Next up is a lovely write-up and note from Donna Salazar, the infamous! I love her products and her super-funky style!!

 This is Suzanne's board. I love the color she used for the background and of course all the techniques..

 And move right over to the oppisite side of our table and this was my display and projects.

 Another DT's member's board, Sam Pirkle, loved her clothespin idea!

 A close up of a little Halloween tag that Sam made!!

 Monica Yelverton, our DT Card specialist, had also an amazing board! I loved the projects she put out on display too! :)

 A mixed-media project by Monica, loved this little thingy and the colors!

 Laura Baldwin, our resident sketch queen, had a great idea to do her board just like she would a full page layout! I loved the colors she used!

 And our wonderful DT Coordinator, Susan Fairchild had my most favorite board! I loved the brightly colored mists she used in the background and the techniques she showcased all over the board ! WOW!

 A close up of the tags and flowers:

 an altered frame by Susan, I really love the sentiment!! 

 And, how cute is this, just a plain old composition book, but all decked out! I love the felt paper and the cool use of decorative tape on the banner, and who wouldn 't love that cute little bird!

 And, last but not least, a pic of all of us!! Suzanne is hiding of course! LOL 

Until next time, enjoy the rest of your evening and thanks for looking :) Peace Y'all~ VV

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