Happy Girls...A Mixed Media Canvas & a tutorial 52

 Hi there! Hope you are having a great day / night! I have the day off from work and before I go for a bike ride, I took the time to create a mixed media canvas to share with you today inspired by Anna Dabrowska featuring a fun photo of Meredith ;) Meri looooves to play with makeup so one weekend, she brought her case over and this is what she came up with:

I combined various MFT buttons, canvas flowers made using Die-namics dies along with metal and chipboard embellishments. The canvas flower shown below was made using  Die-namics Pretty Posies dies:

The canvas butterfly was made using Die-namics Butterflies and the heart (hidden behind the gear) was made using Die-namics Hearts a Plenty:

More canvas flowers made using Die-namics Perfect Petal Trio and Die-namics Upsy-Daisy dies:

and the sentiment is from MFT Clearly Sentimental about Audrey Hepburn:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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Deep Sympathy...MFTWSC117 40

Happy Wednesday! It's time for an all new My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge! For additional inspiration from participating DT members, please be sure to visit the MFT Blog.

I made this rather clean and simple Sympathy card featuring a sentiment from Essential Sentiments along with a multi-layered blossom that was made using Die-namics Plentiful Petals.

To create the textured heart, I die cut a piece of Whip Cream cardstock using a die from Die-namics Heart STAX then rolled through a hand held crimper to add texture.

Many thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great day / night!
Be Sweet ;)

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Howdy... MFT March Creative Challenge 35

Hi there!  Welcome to the March MFT Design Team Creative Challenge! In case you are not familiar, the MFT Design Team Creative Challenge is a monthly feature, where we (the MFT DT) are challenged to explore our creative side using a specific theme, product, or technique. This month, we are highlighting our favorite color combinations using MFT Ink, cardstock, buttons, ribbon, and felt. 

Since MFT offers such a versatile rainbow of colors of ink, cardstock, buttons, ribbon, and felt, the possibilities of color combinations are endless!

My first card is a masculine card featuring the following combination of colors:

Cardstock: Natural, Sno Cone, Gumdrop Green, Whip Cream and Kraft

Ink: Kraft, Gumdrop Green, Black Licorice, Sno Cone

Button: Whip Cream

To create this card, I stamped a polka dot background strip from LJD Darling Dots using Kraft ink on a die cut piece of Natural cardstock. The layered stamp label was made by stamping a label image from DC Well Worn Greetings using Sno Cone ink on a die cut label made using Die-namics Well Worn Greetings die and the sentiment was stamped using a combination of Gumdrop Green and Black Licorice inks. I finished it off with a Kraft cardstock die cut star that was made using a die from Die-namics Star STAX which I then added texture using my hand held paper crimper. I adhered a Whip Cream button on using a piece of Natural Hemp. 

My second card is a feminine card featuring the following combination of colors:

Cardstock: Natural, Cotton Candy, Pink Lemonade, Whip Cream and Kraft

Ink: Kraft, Pink Lemonade

Button: Kraft

To create this card, I first stamped the background using a polka dot background strip from LJD Darling Dots using Pink Lemonade ink. I stamped a sentiment from DC Gift Card Greetings using Kraft ink on a Natural cardstock die cut pocket made using cardstock and Die-namics Gift Card Pocket - Horizontal. The butterfly was stamped using Pink Lemonade ink and features a Kraft button.

The trio of roses were made using Die-namics Mini Rolled Roses along with the following colors of cardstock:  Cotton Candy, Pink Lemonade, Whip Cream along with Kraft leaves that were made using Die-namics Royal Leaves.

Thanks so much for visiting! Be sure to check out the MFT Blog for a list of all participating designers who have a project to share with you today!

Be Sweet ;)

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Cherish... 45

Hi there! Hope you are all enjoying the weekend! Yesterday, Scott and I joined went to a Spring training baseball game with a few friends who were visiting from out of town. The weather was perfect: blue, sunny skies and 80+ degrees. Surely helps explain the sold out stadium. Tina and I are going for a bike ride then April is coming over today so I can help here make her graduation invites which takes place on Friday, May 10th. 

I made this mixed media canvas featuring one of my favorite photos of April and Jerry.

I combined a bunch of manufactured flowers, chipboard and metal embellishments from my stash.

I painted a layered of Gesso on all the embellishments then I sprayed the flowers with various colors of ink:

Flower and metal embellishments can be a little pricey so I stock up on them when they are 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby.

I also made a birthday card for my dear friend using the same techniques and same color scheme. I created the background by collaging tissue paper on a piece of canvas paper, painting a layer of gesso, applying some molding paste to create texture then randomly sprayed some color.

I added a stamped bird image from Inspired by Spring and duo sentiments from Birthday Sentiments. The flowers were made using Die-namics Mini Rolled Roses, the lock and key were made using Die-namics Keys and Locks.

For sketch inspiration, I played along with Unscripted Sketches.

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you have a great day / evening!

Be Sweet ;)

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Down Under photos and travel journal... 38

***WARNING*** LOTS of photos!!!

Hi there! As promised, I have a "few" photos to share from our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand as well as a few pages from my travel / art journal that I made while on the cruise. Since our trip began in Sydney, Australia, I thought I would share a few more that I hadn't shared in my prior post. 

We had to visit Sydney's Apple Store ;)

This is a photo of Hyde Park that was taken while on our tour to the top of the Westfield Tower. The night before, we caught a glimpse of the colorful 35th Annual Mardi Gras parade as the parade performers gathered around Hyde Park.

A view of Sydney Harbour from the North side of the bridge:

A night view of:

 The Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour

The Sydney Opera House

The beautiful Queen Victoria Building:

Inside the QVB is a gorgeous multi level shopping mall:

a dome ceiling inside the QVB

We took a 90 minute bus tour ride to go visit the Blue Mountains located outside of Sydney where we then took a cable car ride down into the canyon where there to see the beautiful rainforest. Reminded me a little of the Grand Canyon here in AZ.

Our next stop was Melbourne. 

This is a photo of a shopping arcade from a street view:

and this is what it looks like once inside: full of little cafes / restaurants and boutiques:

another arcade

There are many little alley ways within the "art district" that have the most beautifully graffiti painted walls. Such an inspiration for journaled art pages:

couldn't help capturing the famous "Travelocity" gnome ;)

Melbourne's Train Station

Knowing that I would have "down time" in the evenings and Sea Days as we sailed to the next destination, I packed a new journal along with a limited amount of supplies. This is the journal I prefer as the pages accept all sorts of medium with minimal warping. 

I started in a "collage" kind of mood, mixing torn pieces of patterned paper while incorporating our luggage tags along with stamps and paint:

I saved a map from our daily adventure and incorporated pieces into the collage background:

More collaged memorabilia:

I switched gears and made a few Julie Nutting inspired girls:

Switched gears again and incorporated lots more painting and stenciling along with pieces of collaged maps and memorabilia:

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you enjoyed the photos that I shared today credit of my dear husband :) I have lots more to share from a few more cities ;) Hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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