Journey...January OUAS 34

Happy New Year dear blogging friends! Hope you all had a safe and fun New Year's Eve celebration!!! With the beginning of the New Year comes a new sketch over at the monthly Once Upon A Sketch Challenge! Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with all month long along and  the theme is "The start of something new..."

I always get a kick out of the surge of members that flock to the gym on or about New Year's Day already dressed up in their brand new tennis shoes and gym outfits! As the days, weeks and months follow, the crowds die down as members "fall off the fitness wagon". I admit, I am addicted to exercise and have been ever since a teenager. Surely I'm wearing away my joints but I love to cook, I love to eat and I'm willing to do what it takes so I can enjoy all of those things :)

This mixed media layout features photos of Scott and I that were taken on top of a mountain named South Mountain that we hike in our backyard. We use to hike this trail a few times a month then it became more like a few times a year. In 2013, we are getting back in the habit of hiking together more often than not.

I had a lot of fun layering a variety of textures, techniques and mediums on this layout. Using various Die-namics dies, I made a few rolled flowers such as the one shown below that was made using Die-namics Royal Rose.

and more blooms made using Die-namics Large Royal Rose and  Die-namics Royal Rose.

Thanks so much for visiting! For some AMAZING International inspiration and complete details, please refer to the Once Upon A Sketch Challenge blog.
Be Sweet :)

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Happy Valentine's Day...MFT December New Product Tour 100

Hi there! Thank you for the sweet comments on my latest posts! I hope you have been inspired to create :)

***WARNING ~ This post contains lots of photos so I hope you sit back and enjoy ;)***

Welcome to the MFT New Product Tour, where you'll get a look at ALL the new stamp sets one more time. You can finalize your wish list and head over to the MFT Boutique to SHOP until your hearts content! All the new products are available NOW, right HERE.

I created an altered mixed media Valentine's Day mini album for my sweetheart Scott while focusing on the beautiful Lovey-Dovey Sentiments stamp set. I've also included many fun sentiments from LLD Document It - Captured Memories. 

The cover features a sentiment from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments which I stamped on a die cut strip made using Die-namics First Place Award Ribbon. I layered the sentiment on a die cut frame made using Die-namics Insert It - InstaFrame and surrounded the framed photo with various die cut flowers including a Paver Red blossom made using Die-namics Winter Rose.

Along with the Winter Rose are blossoms made using Die-namics Die-namics Mini Royal Roses, Die-namics Royal Rose, Die-namics Large Royal Rose, Die-namics Layered Rose and Die-namics MINI Rolled Roses.

I've included a few stamped images from Inspired by Love like the sweet cupid shown below:

More blossoms including Die-namics Plentiful Petals: 

Page two features a sentiment from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments that I stamped on a die cut made using Die-namics Postage Stamp STAX:

More blossoms:

Page three features a sentiment from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments which I stamped on a Die-namics Postage Stamp STAX die cut.

Nothing like a corrugated cardboard heart ;)

Page four features the I (heart) you sentiment from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments framed with a metal trinket frame:

I simply stamped the sentiment, trimmed to fit inside frame, layered and adhered on book:

More blossoms including Die-namics Upsy-Daisy:

Page five features another beautiful image from  Inspired by Love

Page six features another sweet sentiment from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments:

Page seven features one of my favorite sentiments from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments along with a big corrugated cardboard heart made using Die-namics Layered Heart:

I finished the last page with yet two more sentiments from Lovey-Dovey Sentiments: The larger one stamped on a die cut made using Die-namics Postage Stamp STAX:

and the Sweet sentiment framed in a decorative metallic frame:

I wrapped up the book with a garden full of die cut flowers along with a pretty flourish made using Die-namics Sentimental Flourish

Shown below are the Die-namics I used to create my mini album today that are included in the December release: 

It's time to head over to the MFT Blog to see what the rest of the team is up to. Be sure to check out all the designers' creations to get one last look at every stamp set releasing tonight.

Thanks so much for visiting! Hope you enjoyed my mini as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Happy Holidays!
Be Sweet ;)

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Just You...OUAS November 56

Hi there! I can't believe it is only hours away from November 1st! That means it's time for an all new Once Upon A Sketch Challenge! Here's the fun sketch we will be playing with all month long and the theme is "ANYTHING GOES" which means the theme of your choice but remember, you MUST include journaling somewhere on your layout. 

This layout is all about sweet 22 year old daughter Angie. Being completely honest here, I'm not a big fan of all her tattoos or the fact that she opted out of attending college for now. I try to keep an open mind and remind myself that she is chasing her dreams and is healthy. Angie is a crazy talented artist and of course, I would love to see her pursue that career but she opted to turn her bicycle riding hobby into a job for now. She is currently riding professionally on an International competitive team and is sponsored by various companies. You can read about her here: BMX Transworld. When Angie decides she is through with bike riding, I hope she enrolls in college. After all, she is only 22. I returned to college for 5 years when I was 25 so it's never to late and hopefully she will do the same :)

To create this layout, I started with a piece of Pink Paislee's Portfolio - Remarkable patterned paper. For some texture, I applied Gesso to a stencil then added color using heidi swapp Color shine Mustard. 

Once the background was dry, I added lots of spritzed manufactured white paper flowers using the following heidi swapp Color shine spritzes: Primrose, Georgia Peach, Sweet Cherry, Mustard, Black Velvet and Tinsel. The white pretty doilies peeking out are Elements from the Pink Paislee Artisan Collection:

Thanks so much for visiting! For some AMAZING International inspiration and complete details, please refer to the Once Upon A Sketch Challenge blog.
Be Sweet :)

Other supplies used:
Chipboard Title from Imaginarium Designs

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North Shore...WMS July Previews Day 2 67

Hi there! Welcome to Day 2 of the June Waltzingmouse Stamps Previews! Today, we are sharing projects focused on the North Shore stamp set that will be released on Sunday, July 1st in the Waltzingmouse Stamps on line store.

We are a beach lovin' family so this stamp set as well as the My Island stamp set (which will be revealed tomorrow) is right up my alley! I scrapped a layout featuring a photo of Connor that was taken on the beach last summer while on vacation in Kauai. I incorporated many techniques that I learned from taking Stacey Young's class that can be found at Miss Art's Papercrafting School.

To create the tag shown below, I stamped the NORTH SHORE image using VersaMark ink, on a tag made using a Sizzix die, embossed using white embossing powder then stamped the decorative flourishes and sentiment. I added a little bottle embellishment that I filled with sand :)

The SUMMER starts here sentiment is from the My Island stamp set (which will be revealed tomorrow) ~ makes for the perfect title for this layout!

Thanks so much for visiting! For some additional fab inspiration, please be sure to visit the Claire Brennan (Owner) and the following DT members: Anya Schrier Bonnie Sharp Clare Buswell Julia Aston Jennifer Holmes Kelly Schirmer Laurie Schmidlin Lynn Mercurio Mona Pendleton (that's me) Sandie Dunne Tosha Leyendekker

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Create the world you want to see... 38

Hello! Still on vacation having lots of fun with my family here in San Diego. I'll be sure to share some photos soon :) I packed a few supplies that I brought along so I could play in my Art Journal while on this trip. Here's a page that I came up with:

To create this page in my art journal, I referred to a tutorial shown on the Balzer Designs blog ~ click HERE. My page turned out NOTHING like I had in mind or like the sample shown but I still had fun playing with all the sprays and mists :)

 Although you can't really see the dimension in the photos, I used a fair amount of molding paste to add texture. Maybe on the next page it will show better!

 Thanks so much for visiting! Be Sweet :)

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