The Paper Players PP423

I am back today with another card and since I had the doilies and enamel dots on my desk already I decided to use them again before putting away.

The challenge over at The Paper Players is to use any type of animal on your card. This animal can be a bird, a bear or even a butterfly. I went with the butterfly since I happen to have a stash of these paper ones cut out from my favorite Recollections papers.

I used Graphic Grid paper by My Favorite Things along with a stamp set by Taylored Expressions.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me. 

 ~ hugs Sherry ~

Jingle Belles Challege - Tis the Season

I'm back I really am going to try and be more present on my blog this year. So lets start off with a card that I made for the current challenge over at Jingle Belles. 

The theme for this challenge is "No time like the Present" and they wanted us to use some of our Christmas wrapping paper.

It was a pretty simple card once I remembered how to make a card as it has been so long. I used some ancient snowman wrapping paper, a doily from my stash and a sentiment from a PaperTrey Ink stamp set. I tossed on a few enamel dots and called this card done.

I have missed card making, especially when I went to mail out my Christmas cards and they were all store bought again this year.

If you are still reading my blog would love to hear from you and want to say thanks for not giving up on me. It's been a rough couple of years here.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me. ~ hugs Sherry ~

Simply Watercolor Class - Day Three

I'm back and today's class topic was Lettering and Typography!

It was fun and I learned a few things and will improve on my cards when I go back and redo the examples.  

So here are todays cards...

This first card was about coloring inside the letter and letting the colors flow into each other.

The second card was about coloring outside the letter and as you can see I should have made a point to be closer to the letter outline so my lines maybe would have been straighter.

I am off to watch the rest of the videos for day three and may return with a few more samples from class.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me. 

 ~ hugs Sherry ~

Simply Watercolor Class - Day Two

Today is day two of my Simply Watercolor Class and in this class we are using watercolors and drawing mediums only. NO STAMPS! 

I can't draw to save my life and today was all about drawing animals. (insert sad face here)

I tried the first technique and immediately threw it out along with the 2nd technique. Finally I decided to be brave and just do the third technique.

Meet Mr. Bear...

I am going to just say I love how he turned out. I will definitely do another one like this so I can work on my animal drawing skills and also my banner skills.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me.

 ~ hugs Sherry ~

Simply Watercolor Class - Day One Continued

Wanted to share with you the last card that I made for yesterdays class.

I definitely need to practice my plaid patterns but for a first try I am pretty happy with it. I redid the sentiment 3 times and wasn't excited about how that looked but went with it
anyways as that is how I write.

Definitely need a hand lettering class next.

I am off to craft club at our church this morning so will do today's lesson when I get home.

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by.

Sherry

Simply Watercolor Class - Day One

I have been in a creative mode lately so decided to try and get back to some card making and today I am taking a class called Simply Watercolor.

First lesson and I have already failed. We were to create a background using colors of the rainbow...as you can see not so much a rainbow but more on the messy dark side. But its a learning experience and I will just go with it.

I definitely need to work on my brush skills to get even strokes.

Okay, I decided to try one more time using a different watercolor set. Here is the 2nd card. I'm still a beginner and will work on my watercolor skills.

Thanks for stopping by to look I appreciate any and all watercolor tips and comments.

Sherry

Happy New Year

Just wanted to pop on my blog and wish you all a Happy New Year.

Is it cold where you are? We have been having really cold weather here in Minnesota. I'm talking -15 F without the windchill, add in the winchill and we are talking -25 to -30.

I have been busy scrapbooking. I finished my December Daily on Christmas Day and then finished up my 2017 Project Life album on New Years Day.  It feels good to have those projects done and moving onto the new year. I am hoping to make cards this year and maybe participate in a few card challenges. I have missed doing those. If you have a favorite card challenge you always do leave me a comment with a link so I can check it out.

Here are a few of the layouts I created this past month. I apologize for the photos these were shot from my phone.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog, I really appreciate it.

 ~ hugs Sherry ~

My Garden Scrapbook

I started creating a scrapbook about 3 years ago that features the plants in my garden. I finally dug it out of stash and decided that this is the year I finish it.

For the scrapbook I am altering an old readers digest. Originally I was going to keep the cover as shown in this photo.

And yesterday this is what I did to the cover. I made the flower using some old cotton fabric that I had.

I must say forgive me for the quality of pictures. I can't find the disc that transfers the photos from my big camera to my computer so am using my phone for photos.

And here is a look at the pages I have done so far. I still have about 20 pages to go before it is finished. Getting this done is my goal for the summer.

This is the opening page underneath that confetti envelope I will put a small poem about flowers and the dates.

I will come back and do another post once I get the book finished. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and to look at my project.

Hugs ~ Sherry

Staying Focused

I don't know if it has to do with age, stages of grief , depression or the weather but I have a hard time lately staying focused on one thing. 

I was starting to find my way back to doing project life, scrapbooking and cardmaking and then WHAM nothing. No longer have my Mojo!

So I went back to sewing which seems to keep my mind occupied and my hands busy.

Here are a few projects from the past couple of weeks.

My knit dishcloths and scrubbies (not pictured) remain in high demand and I can't keep them in stock.

Large coloring activity totes are new for me this year. Last year I created the smaller version for young kids. 

A friend gave me a ton of fabric and a charm pack so I created some quilts for gifts and a few to keep to be used later.

More of my large coloring totes. I made 8 for our church bazaar which is held in December. I still need to add crayons to some of the bags.

And one last tote. This one was popular with the ladies at my church craft group.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to be back soon with some kind of paper crafts.

Enjoy your day my friends.

Sherry

ZenDoodle

This past Sunday I took a class at a local store and it was to learn how to ZenDoodle aka the Art of ZenTangle.

If you look up what this is you will find:

Zentangle is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is a fascinating new art form that is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity. Zentangle provides artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of personal well being.

I myself who always says I can't draw a straight line also learned that I am not a doodler. I found it very stressful instead of relaxing. Others in class found it very relaxing, but they also told me that they are always doodling. Me, I never doodle.

Basically what it is, is that you make repetitive patterns inside a 3.5x3.5 square. Then you can move onto a string which is where you draw an image and then place your zendoodles inside that image.

Here is an example of a page of zendoodles.

And then here is what me the non-doodler created as my string. I just laugh when I look at it.

You can see some of my zendoodles behind my final piece. I am going to add some clouds to the design to finish it off at the top.

Okay, that is it for me today. I am off to my Craft group at church where I am working on Breadcloths for our spring luncheon.

Have a great day!
Sherry

Scrapbooking Mojo is back

I spent most of yesterday upstairs in my craftroom working on scrapbook layouts. I don't know what happened but I think my MOJO finally returned. With the help of some sketches that I had been saving on my desk for about 3 years.

This one here is my favorite as it uses messy watercolors which I have been playing with a lot lately in my art journal.

Splatter and circles for this one.

This was a fun layout to do but I think I went a little overboard and should have stopped about 4 steps in.

I wanted to try a layout with more than one photo which is out of my comfort zone.

Thanks for stopping by. Now I need to get ready I am taking a Zen Doodling class today at a local art store. Should be fun.

Sherry

I have missed YOU!

Just wanted to pop in today to see if I actually remember how. It's been a rough couple years since my last post, but wanted to let you all know that I am still here even though I don't post any longer. I'm starting to slowly create again and also to find new passions.

Here are a few of the things that I have been doing.

I learned how to knit a year ago and have fallen in love with it. Mostly I make scarves for BackPack Project Minnesota which supplies scarves and other warm items to homeless teens. I aslo make these dishcloths which I can never keep in stock at a local store.

At a local shop I have been working one Sunday a month (4hours) in exchange for classes. So far I took a glass fusing class and then recently I took a alcohol ink class.

We practiced placing the alcohol inks on the backside of photo paper and YUPO paper before moving onto the 6x6 tiles.

I love how the tile turned out. If you turn it just right you see (or I should say I see) a roosters head. Someone else said a blowfish. I just need to put 6 layers of a topcoat on it then I will hang in my kitchen where I keep all my roosters.

I have also learned how to sew so have been making kids activity totes complete with crayons and colorbooks. In addition to those I have made baby bibs, doll bibs, little girl pillowcase dresses, microwave potholder bowls, reversible tote bags, zipper pouches to name a few of the things.

Last but not least I finally started using my Silhouette Cameo after having it for about 4 years. At Christmas I made and sold personalized ornaments and now for Easter I am doing personalized Easter baskets.

And personalized Easter eggs.

And of course I am also making a few cards and working in an art journal. It is slowly coming back to me.

A few more cards and my Grinch mugs.

My art journal which is made from an altered 1963 McCalls Sewing Book.

Again thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me. 

 ~ hugs Sherry ~

No Words

I don't even know how I write this so will just be saying that I am taking a blog break and not sure when or if I will be back.

We lost the love of our life, on Saturday, January 17th at 3:40 am.

Justin Robert Eckblad

January 24, 1977 - January 17, 2015

Hello ~ PoppyStamps Blog Blitz

Have you heard we are having a Blog Blitz over on the PoppyStamps blog?

Stop over and check it out!

 For two weeks we are giving away two of the newly released dies each day. Details are on the PoppyStamps blog.

Java Love ~ Ai #151

We have a new challenge starting today over on the Art Impressions blog and we want to see your coffee themed cards. This can be anything coffee related.

For my card I took the quick and easy route.

This card was so simple to make and used just 4 things.  I took the Coffee Cup image and stamped it using versamark ink and sized it a little smaller than my 4" square card base. Next I stamped the thanks-a-latte sentiment from the Coffee Keeper set and popped it up with some foam tape. Added a few enamel dots and my card was complete.

Make sure you stop over at the Ai blog and check out what the rest of the design team came up with.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today it really means a lot to me.