A Gift for my Daughter, and a Challenge

I have wanted to make this for my daughter for a long time. I finally took the time this week. And I love it. I'm so excited. I think she will be too :)

I should have taken pictures along the way, but I never think about that until I'm done :p

By the way, the canvas is much less green than it looks on my monitor at work ;).

I started out with a 12x12 canvas, a stencil, and some gesso. I never thought it would work out this good! I laid the stencil on the canvas, and spread some gesso over it. When I lifted it I was amazed with how defined the pattern of the stencil was. I got the idea from Angie Blom. She used textured paste. Loved hers, and thought I'd add that to the canvas for my daughter. 

The canvas was painted with a combination of a few Liquitex Soft Body acrylic paints. After that was dry I used Martha Stewart Tintable Antique Effect with a little brown acrylic paint. You use very little paint in the Antique Effect, paint it allover, then wipe it off. I love the effect. It settles in the little nooks and crannies. I also used it over the heart, and on the edges of the patterned paper. 

The heart was torn out of simple printed paper from SU. The wings were cut out of the same paper. I painted the heart red with my fingers. I didn't want it to be perfectly painted. Then I used a toilet paper roll to make some big circles. I added some small dots with Unity's Distressed Dots.

All of the papers, and the lace, were adhered with Mod Podge! Love that stuff!

The words, from the Donna Downey Adore Unity Stamp Set, were stamped with black paint. I wanted it to really show up. 

So, there you have it! 

I'm linking this up in the Unity Challenge. Go see what others have posted. Some great ideas out there!

Thank you for stopping by!

Back in the Craft Room!

So I start school tonight. Maybe that's why I had to get into my craft room. I'm an accounting student and I think I'm afraid I'll lose my creative side when I'm in school. I seem to get more done in there when I'm in school and busy than any other time.I took the Christmas decorations down and had some empty spots that needed to be filled ;).

I dug out this little wood frame from Michaels. I painted it with a blue acrylic paint. After it dried I painted it with off white acrylic, then another coat of the off white. I used black acrylic paint to stamp the flourish on the frame. The stamp is a HUGE foam stamp! The embellishment is from Webster's Pages. I sanded the edges to show a little of the blue underneath.

The k was hand drawn with pencil, then filled in with black marker. That gorgeous blue print paper is from Glitz. Gorgeous! I sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood Distress Ink.
Thanks for looking (and commenting ;).

Have a phenominal day!!!

Look What Happens When You Can't Sleep

Awake at 2 AM, can't sleep. I tried. So this is what I did. Inspired by the inspiration card here. I used Donna Downey stamps by Unity. Love them! First I masked the middle to stamp the Worn Grid Background just around the edges. The I masked the outside to stamp the flower image. I sprayed the whole thing with Glimmer Mist. You can see a little glimmer in the close ups. It's hard to capture the effect with a camera, for me anyway. I love the way the ink bled! After it dried I used my Stamp a ma jig to stamp the image again over the now blurry flowers. I love the effect! I wish I could say I planned it all, but I just went with it. That happens more at 2 AM I think.

The ribbon was another brilliant 2 AM idea. I didn't have any ribbon to go with the colors, so I made my own. It is white ribbon, but I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist. After it dried it was too light blue, so I sponged it with SU Cool Caribbean ink. Perfect! I've never done that before and didn't know how it would turn out, especially with this ribbon. I didn't know if it would take the color, but it did.

The awesome button is Webster's Pages Vintage Buttons Sparklers. I put the little stone in the center.

I have to get a great frame for this now. Have a great day!

New Graduation Cards!

I knew this verse in Donna Downey's "She Said" would be perfect for a friend's graduation. I stamped the head in Versamark for a soft background. If you click on the picture you can get a bigger picture to see details better. I went over the verse with a Stardust pen. It adds just enough sparkle, but doesn't cover up the image.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember you can subscribe up toward the top on the right!

I'M BAAAAACCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

I AM back and I'm so happy I am! I have a craft room of my very own (pictures very soon) and a burning desire to create! Last night I created my first project and started another.
I was VERY influenced by Donna Downey. She is phenominal! I love the idea of just putting the brush to canvas (even if I don't know what I'm doing ;). I used watercolor crayons and lots of water. My watercolor crayons are not the quality of hers, but they did well. The flower is from Prima, and the leaf ribbon is from Papertrey Ink. The stamps are from UNITY. It's great to be back! I have a card to post a little later.