DIY LOVE Canvas from CHA 2015

It's almost that time...Valentine's Day. In celebration of all the hearts and love floating about, I wanted to share a canvas I made for CHA 2015. This canvas was on display in the me & my BIG ideas booth and I was SUPER excited to see it in person. 

I made this heart inspired canvas after I fell in love with the paper from the mambi Straight to the Heart paper pack. I mean...wood grain, I love you repeated over & over in cursive and this darling heart paper. I was done. Swoon! 

Here is what I used: canvas, modeling paste, doilies, mambi Jumbo Gold Rush Alphas, Mod Podge, vellum, hot glue, Straight to the Heart paper, mambiSTICKS, and wood coasters.

I really loved how it turned out. I liked the contrast between the white & gray that I used with the gold. The little pops of red look great too. I love that the red is a super pretty muted red, not an in your face brick red. It worked well with this piece. 

This type of project doesn't have to be just for Valentine's Day either. What about a DIY Anniversary or Wedding gift for someone? Perfect right! I know I always love receiving gifts that someone made for me. Just gives the present a little bit more of love & magic. 

Happy Creating Friends!

Handmade Christmas - DIY Coasters

I love making handmade gifts for Christmas. Not only does the art or crafting of the project ease the craziness of the season, but it also brings lots love to the receiver. I always love seeing the reaction when someone special opens up a package made by hand! Are you making anything this season?

One super fun gift giving idea is making coasters! There are SO many different ways to put them together. Plus, they are super easy to make and you can pick up just about everything you need in one place (in my case Hobby Lobby). 

All I needed for this project was plain wooden coasters, paint, All That Glitters mambiSHEETS 12 x12 pad, pre-cut 4x4 cork pads, Modge Podge, and some beautiful Gold Foil mambiSTICKS. For the finishing of these beauties I used some spray protectant to keep the coasters safe from water damage and some twine. The tag was actually cut from a sheet in the mambi paper pad. 

You can see the process I used over on the mambi blog right HERE. Seriously, so fun and kids would love participating too. 

I also made these pretty coasters using a page from that same mambi paper pad. Isn't the white and gold gorgeous? I am slightly obsessed with this combo, so I fell in love with this paper! Swoon!! For these coasters I used square tiles rather than wood. Don't forget to spray these beauties with water protection too. 

I can't wait to give these to my friends. I think they will LOVE them!

Come see my project on the mambi BLOG. 

Happy Creating,

November Gratitude Journal - 30 Blessings

Wow! I can't believe it is the second week of November. Seriously, I am not even sure there was an October. At least that is how I feel. In all honesty, it wasn't the best month for me. So, in order to "bring the mojo back" and focus on all the wonderful blessings in my life...I decided that November would be a fantastic time to make a Gratitude Journal or Mini Album. I have seen so many beautiful mini albums this fall (and in the past) that inspiration struck and I couldn't wait to get busy. 

Just recently, I received my me & my BIG ideas Design Team box too. Of course it was jam packed with so many inspiring products...perfect for this kind of project. I mean, LOOK at those gold glittery alphas above. Be still my beating (glitter loving) heart!

With gratitude on my mind and mambi goodies waiting to be used, I headed over to Hobby Lobby to find an album. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to have some small pocket pages in the album. Well, let me tell you, as soon as I saw this Paper Studio 6x8 chipboard album I may have let out a joyous squeal. (Yes, art & scrapbooking supplies bring audible bursts of happiness. Ha!) The album only costs $6.99 (HELLO) and it was on sale at 40% or 50% off. Amazing deal, especially since it had 10 pocket style scrappy pages inside. Divine!

The best part about a chipboard album is that it can easily be altered. There is an endless list of fun things that can be done to jazz up the cover. Personally, I love kraft just the way it is. But, for this project I wanted to get messy and alter the cover. I used some white gesso and modeling paste on the outside of the album and decided to keep the inside plain.

After I was happy with the texture, I played around with stacking some beautiful mambiSHEETS paper with a white doily and some mambi Die Cuts. The stack was glued together and I used some alphaCHIPS and mambiSTICKS for the title. I added bits of gesso on the edges of the paper and added some thin twine (bakers) along the side. I really love how my Gratitude Journal turned out. I am going to have tons of creative fun reflecting on my many blessings this month. :)

Journaling for the first page shown is behind the bottom card. I attached a little tab to the journal card and tucked it behind the other. The tab can be spotted on the right side. Sometimes, I like to keep the journaling hidden or make pocket scrapping more interactive. 

Here are a few of the inside pages. Since I plan on documenting my gratitude daily or every couple of days, I didn't want the inside pages to become too "involved." I wanted the process to be simplified, so I could focus on the thankfulness and not become overwhelmed. I think it did help that I spent some time (while watching the 2nd season of Downton Abbey) prepping the inner pages. I just added some pretty papers, journal cards, and a few embellishments beforehand. This makes the actually recording run much smoother.

Thank you SO much for stopping by! I'll be back later with more updates on my Gratitude Journal....plus updates from my shop (Holy smokes it's been awhile), prepping for my December Daily, Art Journal love, mambi Design Team projects, and plenty of fun for a creative Christmas!

Happy Creating,

Fall Home Decor - Wood Blocks with mambi

I LOVE decorating for fall. Don't you? I really don't decorate much for Halloween...just outside with some spiders, webs, crows, and maybe a few bats. Inside the house, I love to warm the rooms up with autumn colors, leaves, pumpkins, and anything I can find or alter to bring the season to life.

Today I have a super easy and fun fall project to share with you. The best part... I started with some old wood blocks I had in my "leftover bin" in the garage. (I have an old crate sitting in the garage to collect scrap wood from various projects my Hubby or I have worked on.) 

Here is a list of materials I used:

Old wood blocks

white paint 

white doilies

twine

small wood finials

mambi SHEETS - Mixed Media, Gold Rush & Straight to the Heart

mambi Fall Leaves Die Cuts

mambiSTICKS Large Alphas - Gold

I really love how they turned out! 

If you want to see the steps I took to make this fun fall home project, please come visit the me & my BIG ideas right HERE!

Happy Creating!

mambi Design Team 2014-15

I am SO excited to announce that I am a member of the mambi Design Team again this coming year! Super fabulous, right? It was so fun working with me & my BIG ideas, so I am thrilled to be a part again. Plus...seriously...LOOK at this amazing team. I feel fortunate to be among this group of super talented, creative ladies. OH, and don't let me forget to mention that we are being led by ever artistic Amanda Zampelli. 

All I can say is that there is going to be a whole lot of artsy goodness 
going on here at Sadie Inspired and right HERE. 
Also, be sure to pop over and visit all these amazing creatives too. 
Just click their names below the picture and off you go!

The mambi Design Team 2014-2015

Stephanie Buice, April Orr, Candi Billman, Olya Schmidt, Latrice Murphy, Theresa Doan, Mary-Ann Maldonado, Heather Adams, Wendy Morris and ME! :)

Stayed tuned for lots of projects, pages, canvases, tutorials, DIY, mixed media, art journaling, POCKET PAGES™, and a much needed blog revamp. Woot! Woot!

PLUS, I have some more super exciting news to share! But, more about that later. In the meantime, here are just a few of my favorite projects from the last year with mambi. 

Happy Creating,

Back to School 3x4 Lunch Notes

It's that time of year again! Back to School is in full swing in our house right now. It has been a blur of activity the past two weeks as we adjust to our new non-relaxing, non-flip flop wearing, missing summer schedules. :) It has been a bittersweet return to the hustle & bustle of school. My youngest entered Kindergarten this year, so I am missing my little constant companion. But, let's be real....I know I can find things to fill my "alone time" pretty quick. 

One of the things I love to do during the school year is sneak little notes into my kids lunches. I don't add a note everyday, but when I do I know they love the reminder that I am thinking of them. 

So last week, during my "alone time" I started making a bunch of cards with some school themed me & my BIG ideas paper and goodies. Here are a few that will make their way into a lunchbox soon!

The base of each card is a folded piece of white card stock. I like to make the finished card to measure 3x4 so it can slip right into my page protector in my Project Life album. 

The construction of each card is very simple. I don't want the card making to become too time consuming. All the fun products makes it super fun. All I do is jot a sweet note inside & pop it in their lunch. I think my son will love seeing this one!

My daughter, who has officially become a "big kid" in fourth grade (where did that time go!?) loves getting a little message from Mom too. Man oh man, do I ever have to savor these elementary school years! Don't you feel the same way? I know pretty soon I will be sticking notes in her purse as she drives off to college. Yikes!

Also, I LOVE just using a 3x4 journal card like this one above that has a great message on it. I can just turn it over, write my message, and pop it in. Either way is special. Either way let's my kiddies know that I am thinking of them. Either way - they both know they are special. That makes this Mommy very happy!!

You can check out all these fun products in the mambi shop right HERE.

Happy Creating,

Time to Spruce Up the House with Art

Yes it is! It is time to spruce things up around here. It has been on my TO DO list over and over to start adding more to the walls around here. It is slowly getting done and man, does it make a difference! I am adding kid's art, my canvases, favorite pictures, mirrors, and prints. (Prints mainly free for personal use prints found online and from the NEW DIY Gallery Art pads from me & my BIG ideas.)

One of my favorite ways to add some pizzazz to our walls is to layer a print on top of some fab scrapbook paper. Below is a picture of a black frame I used for out master bedroom. All I did was add a matte, cut down this amazing script writing scrapbook paper to peek out behind a quote. SO easy and I love how it turned out. Script writing is such a hot trend right now. I see it everywhere. I always love bold black and white with a pop of color. This script writing paper came from a new mambi 12 x 12 pad you can find right HERE. I think it is also at Hobby Lobby.

We are also working on making my daughter's room a little more "grown up" and "fancy." Adding colorful, fun art to the walls always helps. Look how cute it would be to add this print to a scrapbook paper that looks like it is painted. This paper is another sheet from the Paint Pallette 12x12 pad. You could easily paint it yourself or just snag this sheet. :)

We have already collected lots of great art for her room from amazing artists like Danita, Danielle Daniel, and Michelle Allen. I can't wait to see it all put together. Hopefully soon!

Hope you are having a creative Tuesday!

Happy Creating,

Time for Some Summer Projects

View at sunset from the front of our cruise ship.

Wow, time sure does fly! I can't believe it is already the middle of July. My kids start back to school in a month. CRA-zy.! We have been traveling quit a bit, so creative time has been cut short lately. My hubby and I just got back from our last summer trip to Philadelphia - which was a historical dream. I loved seeing all kinds of new things and making beautiful memories with my family. But, I am super excited to be back home and ready to find some artsy time for all the oodles of projects I have planned. I can't wait to share them! But, first here are some things I have been working on.

4th of July Decor

I had some scrap wood in my garage that has been screaming my name. So I decided to make a quick holiday themed frame for the 4th. All I did was glue three pieces of wood together. I attached some red and white paper from the me & my BIG ideas paper pad. I made a photo matte from more layers of paper from mambi. Then hot glued some rope for some decorative touches. Finally attached mini clothespins so the picture can be changed out if I wanted later.  It really took me no time at all! I have been waiting to use that super cute star paper and this project was perfect.

Sunday Mornings & Summer of Color

Any time I can find, I have been continuing my work on my Sunday Mornings class with Mindy Lacefield and the free blog event - Summer of Color 4 with Twinkle, Twinkle. I have not been able to link up my pages or travel around to all the wonderful blogs which is a bummer. BUT, I am still challenging myself to do the activities. :)

Little Love Cards

Eeeekkkk! Do I ever miss my kids when I travel with my Hubby. I love our "grown up" time together, but my heart aches to see the little sparkling faces of my kids. Whenever I do have to leave, I LOVE to leave little notes on their bed, in their suitcases, hidden in their room, etc. I just really want them to know that I am thinking of them. On this last trip I made these darling little cards using several different items from me & my BIG ideas. All their fun goodies make creating so easy. These only took me a couple minutes to put together & the kiddies loved them. Handmade treats like these always make people feel special. :)

Pocket Page Scrapping

Although I am "behind" on keeping up with my Project Life style album, I am still plugging along finishing weeks as I can. No stress. Just fun! This week 21 spread from 2014 was so relaxing to put together. The entire page is put together using me & my BIG ideas products again. That is why it was so easy!You can read about it right HERE!

Another page from week 22.....

Details about this page are on the mambi blog right HERE

Look how cute my son's writing looks. I love adding memorabilia like this into my album. Years from now pages like this will be a treasure. :)

What artsy, creative projects have you been working on? I'd LOVE to hear!

Adorable Dry Erase Board - Mambi Monday

It always feels good to get a little praise, right? I wanted to celebrate little "happy moments" here at my house and thought a changeable dry erase board would be perfect. 

I knew the new me & my BIG ideas jumbo stickers would be perfect. These stickers are SO much fun. The package I have called Inspirational, had this circular High Five sticker that I fell in love with. It was perfect! (You can find these cute jumbos at Michaels or in the mambi shop.)

I grabbed a $1 frame from my stash. It was already painted a really fun, bright aqua. I found a grid patterned paper in the Cool Kid mambi 12 x 12 paper stack. I used a strip of red paper with silver stars along the top to anchor the sticker. I peeled off the sticker and laid it down. Put everything back into the frame and I was done. SO fast! SO stinkin' cute! It took maybe 10 minutes, which in my book makes it even better. :)

Now, I (or anyone else in my family) can grab a dry erase marker and spread a little praise in our house. Of course we like to tell each other all the time. But, it's just a wee bit more exciting to write it down. 

So, GO...go right now and make your own!

Spread some praise. :)

Happy Creating!!

Inspiring Mixed Media mambi Word Art Frame

 

I always LOVE quick, easy projects, don't you!? The best part of this project was using something I already had in my house and I am sure you do too. I found an old frame I had laying around and decided I wanted to give it new life.

 

SO, the first thing you need to do is go grab an old frame. If you are like me, you probably have one sitting on a shelf that every time you pass..you think, "I need to do something with that!" Now is the time! :) Mine does not even have the glass anymore which is perfect.

 

Grab that frame, put on your favorite music and  begin to glue old book pages to it using gel medium or Mod Podge. Once that dries add some gesso. Now the fun really starts. Pull out your acrylic paint (I grabbed for some of my favorite shades of blue & sea green) and start adding some color. I love using my fingers. I really love the control it gives me.

 

 

Once the color was added in several layers, I added some white paint through some fabulous stencils I picked up last week. I also raided my embellishment drawer and found a Recollections metal piece perfect for the top after a coat of gesso. A couple of Recollections flowers for the bottom corner really finished off the frame. :)

 

What to fill the frame with was super easy. I mean...absolutely simple. The me & my BIG ideas 12 x12 paper SHEETS and their various different cards have SO MANY inspirational quotes to choose from. I knew that I wanted something super positive to hang where my cute kiddies could get a quick little "pep talk" for the day. How great is this one? I actually cut out just a portion for this one. I love it. It makes me smile. :)

 

All I did was add some pretty turquoise mambi paper to some cardboard. Then I mounted this fabulous quote to some gorgeous greenish wood grain paper. Finally put it together with some pop dots and it is ready to go! I love it!

 

I hope you like it too. :)

Happy Creating!

 

If you'd like to see the fun things mambi has to offer, pop over right HERE

If you'd like to see may day to day creative journey, come follow me on Instagram @sadieinspired.

 

 

Another mambi Monday - Dimensional Friendship Layout

 

Another mambi Monday...on Tuesday! Ha! Well, at least the page was done on Monday. :) So let's not waste any time. This week I made a 12 x 12 layout highlighting a picture of me with some of my beautiful BFFs from high school. I really love this picture. I wanted to create a pretty, soft layout.

 

 

I knew I wanted to use aqua (no big surprise), and when I saw the orange patterned paper from the mambi Mixed Media Sheets I thought it really complimented the blue perfectly. I also used a large chipboard circle that was in one of the mambi kits. I had been thinking about spring and butterflies. I knew they would look gorgeous fluttering around the circle.

 

 

I punched out tons of butterflies from various aqua, orange, and kraft paper in my mambi stash. I also punched some butterflies from some polka dot vellum. I LOVE how vellum adds such softness to a project. I use it all the time. I also used it under that fabulous sticker & the picture layers. I used the negative from the vellum along the bottom to add some more texture.

 

To give the butterflies some movement I folded them slightly in the middle of each and used hot glue to attach them to the chipboard circle.

 

Once the cute butterflies were put together I layered some adorable paper under my picture. I absolutely loved the sparkling white flowers on the kraft from the new CARDS in an INSTANT. SO CUTE! I tucked them in the back and they looked perfect. Just a bit of sparkle. I liked them so much that I punched some butterflies too. :)

 

 

I added some black splatters, a doily, some stickers, and put it all together. I REALLY love how it turned. I like the dimension that the wings give to the page too. I can't wait to dig into more goodies and get busy creating.

 

 

I've known these beautiful girls for over 25 years. I think I'll have to dig into some old pictures and bust out some fun material for more projects. I am sure I have some darling 80s shots! :)

 

Happy Creating!!

Love Inspired Layout

Ten years ago today I became the luckiest girl in the world and married my best friend!! Isn't he the cutest!? I feel so blessed to go through this crazy life with him. He is a wonderful Dad, sweet supporter, the best smile maker, funny, silly, brilliant... I am sure he would loooove it if I kept on going...but, I'll save that for later. :)

Today I am sharing a love inspired 12 x 12 layout.

 

All the paper used (except for the white card stock) is from the me & my BIG ideas Kraft Wedding 12x12 paper pad. I love that this pad has lots of neutral patterns in it. I wanted something black, gray, and white with pops of color. Ohhhh, and a bit of bling too! Look at that fun, sparkling love heart!! SO fabulous. It is actually cut from one of the mambi specialty cards.

The added black droplets were made with watered down black acrylic. I don't have black ink, but doing it this way always works for me.

I also had to add a doily and vellum to the mambi paper. I just can't seem to get away from using these two. I may be slightly obsessed. I use them ALL the time! I think I need to kick it up a notch and at least throw some paint on them or something! Maybe I can stencil on the vellum....hmmmm, maybe next time. Stay tuned!

I hope you are having a wonderful week full of love and blessings. I am off to go get ready for our little anniversary celebration. 

Happy Creating!

mambi Mondays - Mixed Media Heart Canvas

I am super excited to start a new series on my blog today!! 

mambi Mondays

Yiiippppee! Every Monday I will share a project using some me & my BIG ideas goodies. I might create a canvas (like today), layouts, crafts, home decor, gifts, cards, journal pages, etc. Super fun, right? Of course, I LOVE mixed media so I started things off with a Valentine's Day inspired canvas.

Enough rambling...let's get to it.

I started with a 10 x 10 wooden canvas from Michaels. I have to say these wood canvases are my absolute favorite. First of all, they are only $2.49 each. Awesome! It is not a flat panel either. It has a small ridge all around the back so it is ready to hang. YES! Who wants to bother with adding that stuff. 

I want to make...then hang! :)

I covered the entire surface with some vintage sheet music from my stash with Mod Podge. Hold on... Let's take a little bubble diversion - don't sweat them. If you have even adhered paper (any kind) to any given surface with gel medium or Mod Podge, then you know you are going to face trying to get as many air bubbles out as you can. Is it a constant battle for you too? My solution - accept that the surface MAY not be completely flat AND love the texture those bubbles later create. I put Mod Podge on the surface and the back of the paper, plus I also use an old gift card to squeeze out as much glue as possible. BUT, whatever is left behind - I don't sweat it!

After it was dry, I added gesso and two shades of aqua craft paint mainly with my fingers. I didn't want to cover the entire surface of course. I definitely wanted bits of music popping through. Luckily, this particular piece of music was a love song, so it had the words love, or I love in several different places. I highlighted those by circling them. I also used a circle stencil (from an old board game) and white paint to add layers to the background.

I set the canvas aside to dry and began looking through my collection of me & my BIG ideas paper. I found a little bit of everything to use. The paper used was from 12 x 12 pads, CARDS in an INSTANT and POCKET PAGES cards. There are so many fun patterns to choose from. I had some small wooden hearts (from Michaels) that I wanted to use as the base for each heart. I used a heart as a template and traced out a different pattern for each one. The bottom right side of the grid does not have a heart because the words "I love" were already there from the sheet music. I added "you" with some small mambi ABCs.

Finally, the finishing touches were added using various mambi stickers. Again I used a little bit of everything. It turned out so, SO cute. I already hung it up in my entryway! :) This would make a totally cute Valentine's Day gift (or any occasion) for someone special. Also, the wooden hearts could be replaced with cardboard pieces you cut yourself or some chipboard. So many different ways it could turn out.

 PS I am a me & my BIG ideas Design Team member. I have the honor of working with some very talented ladies. Please come visit the mambi blog so you can see what they have been up too! 

Happy Creating!