A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you are enjoying your summer thus far. I know I have really enjoyed the warmer weather and I am trying to get outside as much as possible! Here in the Pacific Northwest we have to grab the sunshine while we can!

My layout today is using the Carte Bella Wildflower collection that is ON SALE right now in the Frosted Designs store. I have used just about every last scrap of this collection and I keep coming back to it! You can get the ENTIRE collection including 12 12x12 double sided papers and matching cardstock sticker sheet for only $11.24!!!! This is a steal, especially considering that the quality of this paper is super thick and it can take alot of ink! As you will see in my layout today.

I started with some light gold cardstock as my base and then started building my layers. I actually used some packaging from some Prima stuff to be the base layer. Over that I put several of the different patterned papers, distressed them first, then added the sentiment block which I also distressed and inked. After those were laid down I went over with my Lindy's Stamp gang starburst spray in Tiffanylou Blu using a mask, I used both sides and smudged with my finger to make sure I didn't waste any ink. I went over that a second time with the same mask in a few spots using the Dylusions Spray in white linen. My all time favorite!! It really makes the sparkle of the Lindys stand out because it's such a contrast.

I laid down my pictures, some fussy cut elements from more of the paper, wood veneers, and had fun embellishing. 

It was alot of fun putting this together and I highly suggest buying this collection before it sells out! It's such a great deal and is perfect for those outdoor photos!! I hope you enjoyed my layout today! 

Products used:

Carte Bella Wildflower Collection

Steampunk Gold Trendy Tape

Lindy's Stamp Gang Try me Set Tiff Blue

Dylusions Ink Spray white linen

Prima Everyday Vintage Sugar Dots

Studio Calico wood veneer hearts & Arrows

Tim Holtz Distress ink Antique Linen & Tea Dye

Ingvild Blome Distressing Tool by Prima

flowers, buttons, cardboard-from my stash

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!

Punctuation Challenge at Frosted Designs

Hi there friends and followers! Its Friday again and you know what that means- its a new Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Frosted Designs! This week we are challenging you to use any type of punctuation mark on your card or layout these include: *&%^$()#@~!<> except periods, those are too easy- they are circles! The sponsor this time is Deep Red Stamps which is a great company with some great products, I already own the heart swirls stamp and the steampunk sparrow which are both made in the USA!!!

So here are a few pictures of my layout, I started with some of the fun, funky & vibrant papers from the Bella Blvd 'Snapshots' Collection. I then played with mists, inking and distressing as always, and more fun coloring my wood veneers with gelatos. I am loving this technique lately, I am thinking I may need to do a mini tutorial here on the blog soon about all the ways I have discovered how to color my wood veneers!!! The possibilities are endless...hmm that's an idea.Ok, on to the good stuff:

I entitled my layout #carmietales because everytime I take a photo of our sweet kitty who has TONS of personality I hashtag it with that on my instagram. It makes it easyto go back later and get all the pics together plus I could tell a friend or family member to search #carmietales on instagram and all my pics would pull right up! Gotta love technology!!!

That is all for today, short and sweet for ya. I would love to go around and give everyone some comment love, I will be off again Monday & Tuesday but I have alot to do, which includes starting to pack for our move on the 15th as well errands...but I am hoping to squeeze in studio time. I am dying to start my next art journal page now that my goodies from the FD store arrived:

Ok friends, have a great weekend and don't forget to link up your puncuation project to the FD blog by next Friday!!! Have fun & get scrapping!!!

SOS & Susan's Monday Challenge

Hi friends! I hope you are ready for Valentine's day! I am sharing a layout I did this week for the Sketch Challenge over at Scrap Our Stash. Frosted Designs is sponsoring this month and so the design team got to play along! It was pretty easy to put together the pink & red color palette but I added a bit of mint and black to pump up the volume. I had so much fun making this layout and using a old photo from my stash of me, my mom, sis, cousin and aunt on Easter 1989.

 I am also entering this for the Monday Challenge over at my friend Susan's blog: Where Life Meets Art...her challenge this week is to use red & pink on your layout. I originally wanted to do some cards but with the crazy weather here and my work scehdule not really changing...unfortunatley thats how retail is sometimes, I didn't have time. I am still really happy with this project and no harm in sharing it!

Here is the sketch:

The other requirements of this challenge were to use heart patterned paper, at least one premade heart embellishment, and at least one premade arrow.

Here is my layout:

I used several items from the Frosted Designs store:
Ranger Dylusions Ink white linen
Black arrows paper- Carte Bella Wildflower collection
Maya Road emphemra 'love' and heart
stickles glitter glue champagne, fruit punch & cranberry
Studio calico that-away stickers
memory photo frames

And here are some close ups for you:

I really enjoyed sharing today. It was pretty cold, snowy and icy here last week and I hope you got to see some of my snow pictures. It is starting to slightly warm up and I think everyone is looking forward to spring! Until next time friends- enjoy your weekend & great creative! You still have plenty of time to join in both challenges!

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.