Welcome to 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 7

I got out my canvases and acrylic paints today! Although I used black canvases, I always like to paint them black as well. That's so the rest of the paint doesn't get soaked into the canvas. After the background paint dried, I drew out the shape of my ghost with a white Posca paint marker, then his eyes.  

After painting the ghost and letting it dry, I used the marker again for the letter B and my BOO canvas is complete. I created three of these and put them in frames. Easy, peasy. One for each window in my living room...oops, just sold one to my neighbor!! 

My Kind of Town...

Frank Sinatra sang it well in the 1964 movie "Robin and the Seven Hoods". The song, "My Kind of Town, Chicago is", was nominated for the Academy Awards that year, but lost out to "Chim Chim Cheree" by Dick Van Dyke.  That song and a new-to-me painting technique inspired me to create my canvas today. It features the Chicago city skyline and a sky exploding with fireworks.

I started with a white canvas, using a free clipart of the Chicago skyline to cover the bottom before painting the top of my canvas black. Using metallic acrylic paints (copper, gold, silver, green & blue), I created a "stamp" out of a cardboard paper roll, snipping its end with scissors and fanning it out before dipping it into various paints and pressing onto the canvas (this is the new-to-me technique).  As I worked from top to bottom, I rolled smaller versions of my "stamp" so the fireworks looked smaller as they neared the cityscape.

I really think it turned out well. I'm going to seal it with gloss vanish before hanging it up in my house. 

Happy 4th of July, everyone! And Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Challenges I am Entering:

Little Red Wagon - Light It Up

DL Art -  July

Halloween & Other Occasions - celebrate your Country

The Four Seasons - July

A Birthday Gift for My Daughter

 

My daughter is all about positive mantras and self-love (in a good way)> He birthday is coming up next month. AS a matter of fact, she was born on the 4th of July. She's into crystals, Ghibli anime and spreading kindness like confetti.

I chose to create a canvas for her. She likes mushrooms, hedgehogs, and all things dogs. An occasional frog will catch her eye. So I stalked Pinterest for some ideas and found a cute pin that included both a  frog and mushrooms. I drew my own take on the pin, using colors I thought she would like. 

I painted over one of my older canvases due to a shortage of canvases in my house! I have done a LOT of decluttering, but have not got rid of any canvases, so they're either leaving of their own accord, or I've been painting more than I realized! I used acrylic paints on a stretched canvas. I think she'll like it...

I just ordered something from EBay to add to my gifts for her, a little something she has expressed a desire for. And I plan to take her to her favorite restaurant to celebrate. How blessed am I that I am able to give her these gifts! That's about all for now. I'm working on a large metal wall hanging that will go out on my back deck, in addition to adding to my craft fair inventory for this Fall. Hope you'll come back to see the results!!

Challenges I am Entering:

Through the Purple Haze -  Anything Goes

Crafty Animals - Anything w/an animal Goes

Critter Crazy - Anything w/a critter Goes

Painting with Me, Myself and I

I love when Spring rolls out its lush carpet to welcome Summer. I get truly inspired by all the blooms and blossoms every time I walk out my door. So after finishing a canvas for an upcoming Arts Festival, I pulled out a couple small stretched canvases and let Mother Nature guide my brush.

I used several shades of green with light sweeps of the paintbrush. Once dry, I tried a new to me technique that's been showing on YouTube for a while. Using a balloon of=r plastic bag, I dipped it into a select variety of paint colors. I then pressed the painted (crinkled) bottom of the bag onto the canvas and these awesomely abstract flowers bloomed in front of my eyes. If you like to paint and haven't tried this technique yet, I highly recommend it! It's fast, easy and fun!!

Challenges I am Entering:

Dream Valley - Summer Colors

Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Flowers Goes

Mirtillamente - Anything Goes

Pinspirational - Flowers

 

Come Sail Away with the Path of Positivity Challenge this month

 

I created a yarn canvas. After drawing my scene from scratch, I enlarged it and copied it onto my 16x20 canvas. To keep me on track, I colored in the different sections with markers. I then gathered up my cotton yarns and cording and spent over a week adhering strips of yarn onto my canvas. Every inch of my canvas is covered with cotton and I have the blisters (hot glue gun) and headaches (E6000) to prove it. LOL

Tis is my first time making one of these. I call it "Come Sail Away" and I chose to use it as my DT project because I've always wanted to travel. After I retired, I've visited Florida, Germany, Cozumel, Arizona, Massachusetts, Texas, Cancun and been on a 2-week cruise with my sisters to the Caribbean. Later this year I'm meeting family in Hawaii. I am achieving my dreams and goals, even if it's taken me years to finally be able to do so.

The lesson I learned is to never give up on your goals and dreams. Work on them. Plan how to achieve them. Save money if it's needed. And when your dreams/goals come true, know that you deserve to relax and enjoy them, and feel proud to have reached them...

The The Path of Positivity is challenging crafters to create something inspired by Dreams or Goals. I was inspired by the quote offered on their blog:

“Goals are dreams brought to life.” ― Amy Leigh Mercree

 It's their last challenge before taking a summer break. Any type of project is welcome, so I hope to see your creation there this month!

Challenges I am Entering:

 A Place to Start - Anything goes w/optional Anything but a card

 -Make my Monday - B is for...BOAT

Classic Design - Anything Goes w/optional Masculine

  Love to craft Anything Goes

Four Seasons - Anything Summer Goes

31 Days of All Hallow's Eve - Day 3 - Spooky Door Decor

 Hello, witches! My project today is a welcome wreath, Halloween-style. I unearthed a wire wreath form I had bought from Dollar Store last year and tried to weave black tulle around it. That lasted 20 minutes! So then I pulled out some leftover orange canvas and wound it around most of the form. 

Continuing to pull from my Halloween craft supplies gather over the years, I found a bare wooden haunted house sign that I just painted black...

and a wood and wire fence I painted grey...

and some foam flowers...

and foam ghosts that used to be part of a banner...

and a few miscellaneous pumpkins/jack o' lanterns.

My hot glue gun saw some serious action. I want to be able to show this off for the next several years.

Do you decorate for Halloween? Is it just outside, or do you do the inside of your house, too? My neighborhood goes crazy at Halloween. There are some neighbors' houses that my kids (when they were younger) would not go up to their doors for candy! Coffins and gigantic spiders and zombies, etc. I just like to put my artwork in the windows and on the doors, and a large vase or two of altered flowers/plants.  

Challenges I am Entering:

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes, no cards

Crafting Happiness - Halloween

Get Creative - #126 Purple, Black, Green and Orange!!!

 Mirtillamente Challenge #25 - All about Halloween

 Two Old Bats - Halloween Mood Board

The Four Seasons - Anything Fall Goes Mood Board

Anything Goes at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

The most difficult part about the last few months is missing my friends. It's one thing to text and call, but a totally different matter when you can't get that hug, or taking a long car ride together, or thrifting our way through the stores. So when this month's challenge theme at Scribbles Designs let us choose our own theme, I naturally thought of friendship.
I've sent quite a few (dozen) handmade cards in the mail and dropped off at my neighbors and left for the letter carriers. Here's one of the cards I made (when I say one, I mean two; after all, it's just as easy to make 2 at once). It features a Scribbles Designs' image called Envelopes 2.(p.s. It's a freebie) I think they work great as pockets, don't you? Because I had a perfect sentiment from a rubber stamp set from Stampin Up, "Friends are like pockets...you can never have too many." 
I found a roll of teal-colored burlap while cleaning and organizing my craft supplies, and made it my background for the Copic-colored image and the sentiment. All I needed to finish off my card was a strip of cording and something at the top of it and I was finished. Well, except for my second image, which I colored and created a very similar card.

Now it's your turn. You have free reign to create what you want, and when you link it up to the main challenge blog, you'll get a chance to win a gift certificate to the Scribbles Designs Store!

Challenges I am Entering:

Cards 4 Guyz - No patterned paper

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Use Your Stuff - Summer Fun (hot summer colors)

Classic Design - Anything Goes

Daisy Chain - No Design Paper

The Crafting Challenge - Bright Colors

Anything Goes at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

I've been waiting for an Anything Goes challenge so that I can incorporate my two favorite crafting techniques into one project - fluid acrylic painting and digital image coloring. Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog opened the door to the canvas above.

I had just created the painting and started to varnish it for that shinier than shiny finish when I decided to use it for my DT make for Scribbles Designs. I thought the white paint looked like waves in a choppy sea, so I colored up "Sailboat 1" from the Scribbles Store with my trusty Copics. The sentiment is a favorite of mine, and seemed perfect for my canvas.

I used Liquitex Gloss Varnish (two coats) to seal the cardstock image and painted words. That sailboat just pops from the canvas, don't you think? It's 10"x20", so makes a nice focal point on my wall. I love how my acrylic paint flowed around my canvas, creating an intense background for my scene.

The sky's the limit at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog, and you have until the 14th of July to create and link up your cards and projects for your chance to win some awesome digis from the Scribbles Store. Hope to see you there!

Challenges I am Entering:

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge - Anything made for DT Goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes

Classic Design Team Challenge - Anything for a DT Goes

Eclectic Ellapu -  Anything Goes

An Inky Mess - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Art*Journal*Journey - Inspired by...(I live just outside Chicago, which borders quite a bit of one of the "Great Lakes", Lake Michigan. Seeing the boats docked and others with their sails unfurled inspired me to try acrylic fluid painting, matching it up with a digi image from Scribbles Designs)

Scribbles Designs 4th Birthday Bonanza Challenge & Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the midway point of Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog and there are still two weeks left in the challenge. This month we're celebrating Scribbles Design's fourth birthday. We had a blog hop at the start of the challenge along with our regular challenge. To make this an extra special birthday, we've added some extra special prizes in addition to our regular ones.
Here is a refresher of what the theme is all about: 
It is time to break out the party hats and light up the candles on the birthday cake. Get ready to hang some streamers and blow up a few balloons too as Scribbles Designs has just turned four!!! In honor of this wonderful occasion, this challenge celebrates birthdays. Yours, mine, a family member's, a friend's, or even an acquaintance's. It doesn't matter whose birthday you are celebrating or how many candles are on the cake. Simply design a card or handmade gift commemorating someone's birthday.  
For this celebration, I created a 3D canvas (on foam board) using the following:
Images from Scribbles Designs:

Movember Boys

Pinwheel

Valentine Balloon

F61 Happy Birthday

F90 Shooting Star

Daisy 2

Layer Cake

I printed the whole thing four times, then started cutting out my layers. Here's a peek at them:

This month's prizes...

As we are celebrating our fourth birthday from January 15th to February 14th, the prizes for the challenge will be as follows...

• We will still have our regular prizes of:
•  Top Scribbler (chosen randomly) receives $10 worth of digital images, winner's choice 
•  Top 3 and Gold Star (chosen by the Design Team) receives $3 worth of digital images, winners' choice

• Additionally, a special birthday themed prize package will be given away to three lucky winners. The images in the pack will include the following:

• In order to be eligible to win this special prize package, you must:
1.  Comment on every blog hop stop, including the original challenge post no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 14th.
2.  Enter a card into the Birthday Bonanza challenge.

• Three people who follows the above rules will win this special bonus!

• Sandy, the owner and designer behind Scribbles Designs, is also offering up one more unique prize. Check it out...
  
  

  
• In order to be eligible to win this exquisite Tangle Jewelry piece worth $30.00 USD, you must:

1. Comment on every blog hop stop, including the original challenge post no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 14th.
2. Enter a card into the Birthday Bonanza challenge using a Scribbles Designs image. If you are new to Scribbles Designs you can use the freebie offered above or any of the other freebies available in the store (click on the name above to go to the store and look for 'Free' under Categories in the sidebar).

• One person who follows the above rules will win this amazing gift!

To find the original challenge post where you'll find all the blog hop links, along with the challenge link, please click HERE.

On the Path toward Wisdom

I know a lot of smart people. Some have great math abilities. Others speak with words that flow like poetry. Still others have amazing memory and recall (envious of this one).  Me? I’m trivial smart.  Ask me a question on popular culture and I can quote little known facts and speak fluently in movie quotes.  Having wisdom does not come naturally to me.

I know fewer people who are wise, who can take their “smarts” and merge it perfectly with their experiences and intuition and offer sage advice or possibilities for improvement on both small and large scales.

I hate confrontation to the point of smiling, nodding my head and slowly but steadily backing away from the discussion and out the room. Call me chicken.  I know it’s a  behavioral flaw that I need to work on.  But how can I work on it without having the wisdom to know when to defend and when to give in?

I truly have been trying to improve my confrontational skills, and have picked up a few “golden rules” in order to play the game.  I have learned that in an argument, there are often more than two possibilities.  Sometimes the answer is not who’s right as much as acknowledging the other person’s opinion and offering other insights into the mix.  “Let’s agree to disagree” is a good mantra (from the movie Men in Black 3).

Another rule I have learned is that there’s no excuse for attacking someone’s character. If strong words are called for, they should always be directed within the framework of the conversation.  By insulting the person, I lose the argument as well as any self-respect.

Finally, just because an idea is popular or it says so online doesn’t mean it’s true. I remember my son coming home and saying that Portugal was a city in Spain. Now,  geography is not my strong suit but I am positive that his teacher (a woman who should have retired 30 years prior to my son’s imprisonment in her class) was pulling his leg or having “a moment.” Of course, children think their parents have the minds of slug worms, so good luck convincing them you’re right and they’re wrong!

See how hard it is to be considered “wise”? It just comes back to forcing myself to THINK before speaking, and knowing when to speak and when to just nod my head and back away quietly but steadily.  Come to think of it, maybe the way I deal with confrontation is a form of being wise?  Mmm, didn’t think so.  I guess I’ll tighten up my laces and continue on my path toward wisdom.
And to point the way down the path of wisdom, I've created a 12x12 mixed media canvas for this month's Path of Positivity Challenge.  I showcased an image from Ike's Art, one of our regular sponsors and a very talented artist.  It's called Sherlock and I fell in love with it from the first time I laid eyes on him. Because of his deductive powers, I'd say he was a fairly wise man, so he is perfect for this month's theme of WISDOM.
I printed out the phrase in Word on my computer. I used Basic Grey patterned paper, acrylic paints, CTMH inks, matte medium, Mod Podge, a photo from TCM magazine and Sherlock to create my canvas.  My embellishments include jewels, buttons, jeweled flourishes and clock face brads from Recollections. I also used letter tiles from a deconstructed Scrabble game to embellish my wording.
When I say MIXED media, I really mean it! LOL
Now for some good news. Prizes for this month are:

·   Ten digital images from Creative Bug Digitals for the person out of the top seven who receives the most votes during voting week.

·    Three digital images from Ike's World for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.

·    Five digital images from Digi Stamps 4 Joy, our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

·    One digital designer paper from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.

·    One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles as well.

Thoughtfulness Boils Down to Courtesy

My canvas today uses a digital image from Ike's World called Muse 6.  I cut her face out of the full image in order to create her hair from her thoughts. My Muse is being very thoughtful today, her head full of ideas on how she can make the world a better place.
No matter how many ways you can describe the word thoughtfulness, it all comes down to one word—courtesy.  Saying please when asking for something…saying thank you for a kind word or act…listening when a person speaks.

Melissa, one of my crafting friends, says thank you in a simple but amazing way.  She sends boxes of handmade cards to the troops.  Our deployed men and women are in areas where greeting cards are hard to come by.  She makes her own as well as collects from thoughtful crafters and sends thousands to Operation Write Home, which in turn sends them overseas for the troops to send home to their loved ones.

Do you see the domino effect that the thoughtfulness of my friend creates?  Her actions cause others to thoughtfully join in, which allows others to thoughtfully send out birthday greetings and get well wishes and congratulations to family and friends back home.  Thoughtfulness spreads love and good will across the globe in an endless cycle!

Last year I sent Melissa over 200 handmade cards.  This week I am sending her the cards shown here.

I've made and sent out two dozen - a good start to 2014.  I help to make this world a better place by a simple act of thoughtfulness for others.  You can too!  Please check out  www.OperationWriteHome.org for guidelines for making and sending cards for the troops.

Come play with us in the Path of Positivity Challenge blog this month! Show us what thoughtfulness means to you by linking your card, layout, altered art, writing, photography (really, the sky’s the limit here).

Our guest sponsor this month is Pickled Potpourri, AND THEY'RE GIVING A $7 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO A PERSON CHOSEN IN A RANDOM DRAW BASED ON ALL ENTRANTS.

Other prizes include:

Ten digital images from Creative Bug Digitals for the person out of the top seven who receives the most votes during voting week.

Three digital images from Ike's World for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.

One digital designer paper from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.

One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles as well.
Here is the full digital that I used in part for my canvas.  Isn't it pretty?  You can find it HERE:

Joy, Part One: Do What You Love, Love What You Do

JOY!  I'm sorry for shouting, but that's a word that can't be whispered.  JOY! That's a word that can't help but be shouted out loud.  JOY puts that twinkle in your eyes and the smile on your face.  JOY lifts your spirits high and sets your heart to singing.

JOY is doing what you love and loving what you do.  If you love to paint you will find the color of JOY in your canvas.  If you love to sing, your music moves to the rhythm of JOY like the waves in the ocean.  If you're a writer you spell out JOY for all to read.  If you love to garden you will plant seeds of JOY and can watch them grow.
I love to craft and, when I do, I create with JOY because I'm doing what I love to do.  For me, crafting is not work.  When I put ink onto paper or paint onto canvas, I am putting all the love and creativity and emotions of the moment into one huge ode to JOY.
You see JOY in many people.  There used to be a show called The Joy of Painting, starring Bob Fosse. You could tell that he really felt JOY when he changed a blank canvas into a gorgeous landscape.  Watching old black and white movies, I see JOY when Fred Astaire starts tapping his toes and dancing.  What that man could do with his feet! You can tell he loved to dance (and more than once I wished I had been Ginger Rogers, his graceful dance partner).
JOY is found in the hearts of new moms, sports players, marathon runners, teachers...so many people who love what they do.
My project is a mixed media canvas.  I tore patterned tissue paper to make my background, coloring in the white spaces with Copic marker BG05 and separating the myriad of patterns with Stickles.  When it comes to mixed media, my motto is: everything but the kitchen sink!  Paint, ink, cast-off jewelry, brads, stamping, freehand drawing, charms and flowers (just to name a few) went into this canvas.
JOY was flowing from my fingers onto my canvas, because I was loving what I was doing and doing what I love most.
Do you love what you do?  Do you do what you love?  What gives you JOY?  This month's theme at the Path of Positivity Challenge blog is JOY.  Post a story or a project there about your own experience or thoughts on JOY for your chance to win a prize from this month's sponsors:

Today I Am Thankful

Today I am thankful for my grandma. She is 103 years old, God bless her. She is almost blind, deaf in one ear and can’t hear well in the other. She needs help walking, and is very demanding on the phone when something goes wrong and needs fixing (she wants it taken care of NOW). She’s cold all the time so her thermostat is set at 85 degrees (I have shorts and a tank top I leave in my car, even in winter, for extended visits to her house).

But she is so much more than that. She is the woman in the photo at age 19.  She is the woman who crawled around on the ground with me when I was a toddler, who hand-sewed Barbie clothes, and played board games as I grew older . She let us climb her Queen Anne cherry tree and pick the fruit off the tree, sometimes not leaving any to bring back down for her. We baked bread and sweet rolls together, shared family recipes, and she taught me to sew on her Singer (1929 with the knee paddle). I learned how to crochet and needlepoint and make French knots and cross stitches from her. Drive-in movies, Christmas dinners, catching lightning bugs, hugs and kisses and special treats…

Sometimes it’s difficult to bring up that vibrant, laughing woman who reigned as a true matriarch of the family, especially when I see her today in the hospital, confused, scared, not able to stand by herself or take care of personal hygiene. That’s when her legacy really kicks in. When you are loved all your life so unconditionally, you instinctively return that love and care a hundredfold. Just as she held me and washed me and was unendingly patient with me, so I must be with her. Not out of a sense of duty, although she did instill that in me; no, it is out of a sense of unconditional love returned…and a sense of gratitude for all the many years I have had her in my life.

So in celebration of my grandma, I made a mixed media canvas a few months back to remind me that while she and everyone else grows into old age, in my heart SHE is forever young.

What are you thankful for?  Does it inspire you to create with paint or paper or words?  Share your story or your craft with Path of Positivity Challenge Blog.  Show them your interpretation of what being thankful means to you. You can make any sort of project and/or post as long as it is positive in nature and relates to the theme.  Each challenge will be open from the first Monday of one month to the Sunday before the first Monday of the next month. When you link up, leave a comment summarizing what it is about your post that you feel is inspirational / positive / motivational and if it isn't obvious, how it fits with the theme.  A top seven will be chosen by the entire Design Team (DT) and will be posted in a separate post. You will then have one full week to vote on the creation or post that you have found to be the most inspirational of the bunch.

Whether you participate in the challenge or not, everyone needs some positivity in their daily lives, so go take your medicine with a spoonful of sugar and you'll feel better immediately!!

My Heart is in My Art

Ink colors my fingers,

And glitter coats my hair.

My craft room’s like a crime scene

With Copics everywhere.

I seem to’ve lost my scissors

I should clean, but where to start?

It really doesn’t bother me

‘cause my heart is in my art.

Crunch the Numbers

Ever have one of those days (weeks, months, years, lives) when anything that could go bad, does go bad?
when you dig yourself out of the hole, only to step into another, bigger one?  When you feel that one more failure, one more loss, one more door slammed in your face will break you?
My advice to you is to CRUNCH THE NUMBERS!  After all, your success rate for surviving loss, triumphing over failure and changing your luck is 100%  You're here reading this blog post, so you made it through tough times intact--changed, of course, possibly scarred, but a survivor, nonetheless.
And knowing this, HOPE will see you through the next time, and the next, because you're building strength every time you survive a setback and you keep HOPE in your heart.

HOPE is the theme of my project today.  More specifically, my project was inspired by a verse from Emily Dickinson's poem, "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers."

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all …

When we first married, my husband and I wanted a big family.  We teased each other about how many daughters (a Girl Scout troop's worth) or sons (a football team's worth) we'd have.  I kept my Nancy Drew book collection and started collecting Hardy Boys mysteries for our future readers.
After our son was born, I never went back to taking birth control.  We thrived as proud parents, but were disappointed as months and then years went by and I never got pregnant again.
We had given up HOPE that it would ever come about, so much so that I sold all my baby furniture, clothes and blankets. But even if your logical brain gives up, there is a tiny seed of HOPE still lingering in your heart, singing softly in your sleep.  It wasn't until ten years later when I lost my dad that I discovered I was pregnant again. I got my football player and my Girl Scout and we couldn't be happier.
HOPE is the reason we wake every morning, and it is the reason we dream at night. Here's my own bit of poetry to add to this challenge:

 The door slammed loudly. 

I climbed through a window,

    Never losing hope.

-Pat Martin, 2013

Hope happens to be this month's theme over at The Path of Positivity Challenge blog.  Got a story of HOPE, or a piece of artwork, a card or a canvas, that embodies the idea of HOPE?  Please share it, if not for the challenge, then for inspiration for others.

Need more inspiring stories of HOPE yourself?  Try reading the stories at GIVESMEHOPE.COM  

They always make me feel good!

Whatever you do, remember to hold onto HOPE and keep crafting!!

Believe

For the longest time, I stayed away from acrylic paints.  I was more than happy with making cards and scrapbooking memories, stamping and coloring and stickering, etc.  But after seeing some amazing canvas, mixed media and art journaling, I really wanted to stretch my wings and, well, not fly, but certainly paint!

I took to it like a duck does to water--well, not really, it has been a challenge, but I am liking the things I do now, including what I'm showing you today.  I finally have a chance to show off the last canvas I created.  I made it for my baby's graduation--from high school!

After covering the canvas with paint and some tie-dye designer napkins, I printed some monogram letters from the internet to spell out the word BELIEVE.  I adhered some of those letters to squares of foam board for a little dimension, and colored, embellished and/or distressed each letter before attaching them to my canvas.

Then the fun began.  I wanted a quote that was a personal message from me to her, and found part of one in a poem.  I painted that quote, as well as painting/writing special, tiny messages from each letter.

Like for the letter B I wrote "Be confident" and "Be calm."  And for the letter E I wrote "Enjoy life."

After the personal messages, I focused on the embellishments.  She likes tea and flowers, loves music and uses her time creatively.  Once all the little pieces were attached, it all kind of came together.

I gave it to her after her graduation ceremony, and it's been hanging on her bedroom wall ever since.  I think she likes it!

You never know what you can accomplish unless you try.  You might just discover a passion for something, or at the very least a new hobby!  So, what are you waiting for?  Go have some fun and craft!!