Four Ways Friday...coming later today!

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a wonderful Friday!  I just arrived back home from Amsterdam last night and, although I had hoped to have been awake enough to work on Four Ways Friday...I was wrong :(  So, my plan is to work on it today and post it for you later today - please check back later and thanks for your visit!!!!!

Emboss Resist - Of The Earth

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Round And Round She Goes...Where She Stops, Nobody Knows!

This card was definitely created in stages!  I almost abandoned it numerous times, but I decided to keep going - to allow the process to unfold - all the while hoping that where I would end up would be a place I could smile about :)  And so it is :)  Sometimes you just have to go round and round with it and see where you stop!

I'm not sure I can even recount all of the steps I took to get to this card...it went something like this...stamped A to Z on Very Vanilla card stock; stamped bird image in Versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Took multiple sponges and colors and went wild sponging over everything!  Then I stamped the greeting in black on the background.  Then came the flowers stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Then the butterfly image - more Versamark and white embossing powder...and then a bit more sponging.  Then the greeting stamped on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock and cut into bite-size pieces and adhered to the card.  The 2-Step Bird Punch was next - sponged with Rich Razzleberry, of course :)  And then some distressing of the edges before putting the entire card together.  Phew!  Quite the journey :)  I hope you enjoyed the trip! :)  Speaking of trips, I will likely not be posting tomorrow (Thursday), but my hope is to be back in time for Four Ways Friday...see you then!

Smootch Spritz and Stencils

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Our Education In Creation Is Never-Ending

I sometimes volunteer at a Boys & Girls Club, helping children experience creating art!  It is a joy and an energizer for me!  As I watch the children create and reflect on my own experiences with creating art, I realize that our personal school of art is never-ending.  Every day you sit down to create or think about creating you are moving further into your birthright as a creative being.  There are new thoughts to express and new ways to express them.  Dig deep, there is still so much to learn!

For today's card I combined the Mostly Vintage decor stencil with some Vanilla Shimmer smooch spritz.  If you look closely you can see the outline of the stencil!  It is wonderfully sparkly in person!  I then stamped some of the flowers from Vintage Vogue around the edges in Whisper White craft ink.  And yes, I used my heat tool to dry things since I am a bit impatient ;)  I built the flower with elements from the Pretties Kit...but look closely...I also embossed on some white grosgrain ribbon.  I stamped the floral image in Versamark onto the ribbon and then embossed using silver embossing powder!  I stamped the greeting on Whisper White card stock and added some dazzling diamonds along the edges.  A few half-pearls finish the look.  I hope you like it!

Book Frame #2 - Stampin' Up! Style!

 

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives. - Louise Hay

As artists we have a lot of tools at our disposal - paint and brushes, ink and stamps.  Sometimes we forget that one of the most powerful tools we have are our thoughts.  As Louise Hay points out in her book The Power Is Within You, the thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives.  What type of painting are you creating with your thoughts today?  Become aware of your internal babble.  Listen for that self-criticism that creeps into your inner voice.  Today, try to replace that criticism with praise.  Affirm who you are and the place you hold in your life today.  Choose to paint a beautiful picture on the canvas of your life!

Today's project is a belated gift I made for my mom for Mother's Day.  Why is it I can't make a gift on time?! :)  I used my jumbo wheel to decorate this book.  The pages are sealed together with gel medium.  I sprayed some smootch spritz on the blue cover of the book - if you look closely you can see it sparkling!  The letters were cut from different thicknesses of chipboard with dies and the Big Shot.  The letters were "colored" with classic ink and then covered with Crystal Effects for that glossy look!  A rub on (see it?  it's the word "your") and some buttons adorn the spine.  Finally, I stamped "love" and a flower image from the Tiny Tags set on a piece of Very Vanilla card stock and placed it in a Hodgepodge Hardware frame.  I hope you like it and I hope my mom does too :)