Found a Happy Place

Today I decided to create a scrapbook page for my last guest DT project for DeeDee's Digis. I have had a lot of creative fun while playing with some awesome image sets. Everyone who participates in their progressive challenges has a chance of becoming a Guest DT member. AND when you use the digi of the month, you will receive next month's digi for free!

Pictured above is my hubby during our road trip vacation to Siesta Key back in 2009. We tried Siesta Key again this Spring, but only my daughter and he enjoyed the vacation. I ended up with acute bronchitis and a sinus infection the day we got to our luxurious condo on the beach, and spent most of the time in bed.

I created this page using the following in Adobe Photoshop:

Elements from the following DeeDee’s Digis sets:

Monkey Business/ Paper Dots patterned paper

Beachy State of Mind/4 pre-colored images & sentiment

Elements from Decosse’s Dynamite Doodles:

Christmas Grunge Textured papers/Royal Blue & Chocolate Brown

Button 2

Elements from Mischief Circus:

Rucola Designs freebie/Summertime poster

Clipart:

Newsprint Butterfly

Palm tree

Challenges I am Entering:

Anything But a Card challenges - Anything Goes (no cards) 

Allsorts challenges - Add a Butterfly

Splendiferous Creations - B is for...(Beach)

A Little Beach Magic

Finally got some time to craft, and wanted to use up one of snags I made at my local Goodwill store, thinking how nice it would be to alter it.  The most difficult part was deciding what the theme would be--should I dig deep into my steam punkiness, or would a dark Halloween theme be better?

But it's summer, and the waves are calling me, so a Beach fantasy scene it is.  I started with a raw wood window frame with a flower shelf (a garden scene did tempt me, but I'm allergic to flowers, subconsciously allergic to fake flowers) that I picked up for $2.

I used acrylic paints until I got the frame the colors I wanted, then used the following mermaids for each window.  From top left to bottom right, they are:
Sweet Pea's "On the Shore" by Terra Bidlespacher, QKD's Porcelain Mermaid, again by Terra, and my newest purchase,  another Sweet Pea digi called "Wait for You" by artist Ching Chou Kuik.  I also used a stamped image from High Hopes of two friendly jelly fish.

I colored them all with my trusty Copics, and with my signature technique, fussy-cut them to put into my handmade scenes.

I love mixed media, which has to be my newest most favorite technique, so each "scene" has bits of surprises in each.

"On the Shore" features torn paper background, Stickled sandy beach, glitter button sun and a stray pearl or two.

A few tiny seashells are scattered along the wood frame as well.

In the "Porcelain Mermaid" scene, I actually used four pieces of dimensional tape so that my mermaid looks like she's sitting on the seashell I adhered to the wood frame.

I added some Liquid Glass bubbles, some Stickled shimmer, some pearl stems, seashells and fibers for misc. ocean stuff.

I had this gorgeous but large white starfish that I wanted to incorporate in my project, but no matter where I placed it, it blocked too much of one of the "windows.'  So I created a background from shimmery ribbon and cardstock and adhered a beach-themed ATC to it.

My next window features "Wait for Me", which I printed twice so that I could use dimensional tape so that the moon is "behind" her.  An adhesive accident with the moon caused me to apply a liberal dose of Stickles to cover it up.
I like to use feathers in my work, so her tail features one.  I hand-stamped the background patterned paper, and hung a seashell from the tip of the moon.  More seashells decorate the bottom of the window.

To finish off my project, I used some miniature scrabble tiles to spell out Beach Magic along the "ledge" and stuffed the ledge with raffia and seashells.

It took about two days to finish my project, and now it's in its new home.  I gave it to my son and daughter-in-law within one hour of the glue drying for their first anniversary.  Their wedding theme was tropical, and hubby and I hosted the reception in our backyard, going all out with tropical decorations and menu to boot.  It was a lot of work but worth it.

I'm entering my project in the One Sweet Challenge blog August challenge, which asks participants to use their favorite technique.  Mixed media and fussy-cutting are my faves--for the moment. LOL

Life is a Paradise When You're in Love

And so the theme for my son and future daughter-in-law's wedding is tropical.  It will be a small affair, about 40 people, performed near our local lake, with guests dressed comfortably in Hawaiian shirts and flip flops.  The luau is going to be at my house (what was I thinking?!).

Meanwhile, I just finished and mailed the invitations.  Chase's fiance, Camille, loves my cards and asked me to make these.  After discussing styles and wording, she told me to choose the final draft and mail them---she trusts me to make the very best!  I love her already!!

They're doing a small civil service now, and then when my son returns from his deployment, they will celebrate the sacrament of marriage at our local church, with the big Catholic wedding and a hundred or two guests and a honeymoon after.

Did I mention that the wedding will be in just 28 days????  Tell me when to freak out!!  Too late, I'm already there! LOL  Let me say a little something about the invitations, maybe that will calm me down a little.  I bought a package of black cardstock cards with the circle already cut out (from Michael's), but ran out and had to make my own in addition to those I bought.

I embossed the palm tree with white pigment ink and white embossing powder from Stampin Up.  The border embellishment is from EK Success, also purchased at Michael's (40% off!).  Doesn't it look like frosting on a wedding cake??  I didn't buy enough, so I used some gem borders I found in my file drawer of stickers.  Yep, I emptied the whole drawer and organized them all into labeled folders taped on their sides into pouches.

The black and white is so formal, so I adhered some purple (bride's fave color) paper onto the inside of the card and popped a pair of flip flops to be framed by the circle cutout.  On the inside is the invitation sentiment, along with a poem that describes their relationship:  "Time flies so fast, so too does life. You work, you play, and then some day...Love happens!"

I also added the informal dress code by quoting: "Love makes life a paradise, so wear your Hawaiian shirt and flip flops"  Hopefully, we'll have enough photos taken so I can show my crafting buds the luau I have planned for this event!!  Meanwhile, keep crafting!  I'll be a little busy for the next month, but will try to manage a few posts here and there.