A Tisket, a Tasket, Another Kitchen Basket

 

Welcome to another day of crafting, and another kitchen basket shadow box! Today I created a beach scene using crushed glass for the ocean, mixed sand for the beach, and tiny seed beads mixed with white paint for the sea foam.

I have plenty of sea shells, but added some pea gravel, moss and one glass button from a floral purchase. Looked a little empty, so I added the last of my starfish stickers. I used one of the tiny bottles I had purchased online (during COVID), with a tiny, rolled up piece of paper inside (neatly tied with a strand of twine).

The final touch was found in my box o' shadow box figurines...the tiny seagull (well, it really was a dove. Use your imagination)! LOL

Challenges I am Entering:

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Seashells at the Beach

(Pin)spirational - July Tropical Sunset (I used the beach scene on my shadow box basket)

The Four Seasons - Summer Season July

Colorful Options - July

Bookmarks in Watercolors

 

 I am an avid reader. This last year I must have set a new record for myself--14 new books!! I found several new authors I like, while stepping out from cozy mysteries into some fantasies. I just finished 2 books last month by Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop and The Storyteller. Her newest book, The Mysterious Bakery of Rue de Paris, is waiting for me at the local library.

I've been trying to keep my reading down to one book at a time, but I have to admit to temporarily "losing" a book for a while, and starting a new one until I find it. So, bookmarks are important to me. I love printed books--I spend enough time in front of a screen as it is. And because of this, I have blended two past times into one by water coloring bookmarks!

Above are three of my newest bookmarks. The first is a beach scene with baby turtles crawling out to sea. A trip to Hawaii last year (and the photos I took) inspired e to paint these. The second was again inspired by my Hawaiian trip. I had sketched a scene from a lagoon we snorkeled at while my daughter borrowed my mask. It came in handy while I was thinking about the next water color to paint.

The last is a theme I've painted often, one with greenery, water and a moon. I decided to highlight the sunshine with a white Sakura pen to give it more depth, as it was a very small canvas.  Of course, what's a bookmark without a frivolous amount of ribbon sticking out the top of your book?

Beach Life

I found this lovely digi image in one of my photo folders. I printed it twice and fussy-cut the second image in pieces, adhering it with dimensional tape onto the fully colored and uncut image. The background was created i Photoshop using three digital papers from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles and Pixel Scrapper Dawn Prater.
Using Mod Podge, I adhered my beach scene to a piece of wood and attached cording with which to hang it. It's going into the screen room at my cabin, over a cabinet where we hang our outdoor stuff (swim suits, caps, etc., before we enter our "home away from home."
But there is something missing! There is a mystery to be solved!! I have NO IDEA whose design this digi is!! There is a tiny copyright symbol hand-written at the bottom of the digi:

"M '11"

That's the only clue I have to identify who drew this lovely image. Does anyone know whose it is?? Please comment so I can give the designer his or her due credit. Meanwhile, I hope you're getting in lots of crafting during the isolation that COVID-19 is causing.

CHALLENGES I AM ENTERING:

Moving Along with times - At the Beach

Southern Girls - Anything Goes

Papercraft Business Papercraft - Ocean/Water

New Challenge at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

The optional theme over at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog is to "use a sentiment". My DIL is a photographer, Camille T Photography, and she took this amazing photo of her daughter (former cheerleader) accomplishing an awesome jump on the beach. It just so happens that I found the perfect sentiment in the Scribbles Designs Store. It reads:

"Funny how in Dreams 

your feet never touch the Earth"

I printed out the sentiment, cut it out and placed it on the photo. Then I used some deliciously colorful patterned paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles from her Bokeh Paper Kit. Want to hear a funny story about this card? I decided to make a set of four of them and bagged them for a recent craft fair. The set didn't sell, but my girlfriend, (who just happens to be the other grandmother to the girl in the photo), saw the cards and bought them! She was delighted when I told her who the girl was.

When you create this month, don't forget to link your card or project up at the Scribbles Designs main blog for your chance to win free digis from the Scribbles Designs Store. Good luck and happy crafting!

Challenges I am Entering:

CCC Digi Designs - Summer

Daisy Chain - Summer

Sognando Scrap - Travel/Holiday (to the Beach)

Dare to be Square at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

It's time to dare to be SQUARE at Scribbles Designs with a project that is SQUARE. I created a square summer card featuring words to live by:

It's not just an accessory,

It's a way of life.

I'm talking flip flops! Some people (my daughter) practically lives in them all year 'round (until the first snowfall). What better place to wear them at is the beach? Sigh! Chicago may have beaches along its Lake Michigan shore, but nothing beats the ocean.

Anyway, one of my favorite techniques to use on a card is torn paper, but I haven't used it in quite a while. I'm glad to say it's back in the forefront of my creativity. Don't the papers look like water lapping at the shore? 

I used #848 FlipFlops from the Scribbles Designs Store to create this card, along with the torn paper, the paper sun I punched out from patterned paper, as well as the sentiment I created and framed. With the busy patterned paper as a background,I kept my embellishments simple, using a strip of jewels to depict the sparkling water just beyond the edge of my card. What do you say, ready to take a dip? Of do you want a little more time to bake in the sun? LOL

 Whether you follow the optional theme, or "do your own thing", remember to link your project up at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog for your chance to win free digis of your choice at the Store! 

Good luck and happy crafting!

It's Christmas in July at Ike's World Challenge Blog

There's a new theme at Ike's World Challenge Blog, and it's sure to bring cooler thoughts during this hot and humid month. It's "Christmas in July," and I found the perfect digi image in Ike's Store for my DT make. I colored up this cutie called Santa's Beach. It was originally a FREEBIE offered on the challenge blog.

It lends itself very well to a step fold card, so I used a holiday-themed embossed piece of cardstock for my background. I popped my fussy-cut image onto the middle "step" , leaving the front to showcase my sentiment.

A funny story about this card: the only reason I created this folded card was because I messed up when I colored the sky. I hated it, so I fussy-cut the sky off. In looking for a nice piece of patterned paper for the background, I came up with the step fold card idea. Another twist was the sentiment. It's actually from a tag I had made previously. The original sentiment was impossible to print, because I ran out of ink!! My first sentiment would have been:

"Now we know why Santa is so pink-cheeked and jolly"

Have you ever created something that started out differently than you planned, whether from a mistake, a missing embellishment or an overactive scissors? Several of my best cards have been through accidents that I covered up or changed a design to conform with what I was left with. I just wanted to know if I was the only one, or if there are more imperfect crafters out there.

Anyway, pull out those holiday papers and embellishments and create a holiday card for Ike's World Challenge Blog. One random winner will receive a gift certificate with which to plunder her store.

Actually, the DT at the 12 Months of Christmas Link-Up are on va-cay this month, so I get to showcase any card I want for my DT make there. I think I'll use this one, my perfectly imperfect step fold card from Ike's Art. See you at Ike's World Challenge Blog, and if you have a mind to it, at 12 Months of Christmas blog as well!

Happy crafting!

Challenges I am Entering:
A Snowflakes Promise - Anything Goes
The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge -  Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown - The Great Outdoors
Whoopsi Daisy - AG w/optional Christmas in July
Christmas Crafts All Year Round - Must Add Tree (mine happen to be palm trees)
Digi Doodle Studios - Christmas in July
Fabrika Fantasy - Summer (where Santa vacations in the "off-season"

Discovering Confidence along the Path of Positivity

Have you ever noticed that the most confident people know their talents and skills and have figured out the best way to use them? Everything we have and who we are is within us, if only we could recognize these treasures. But like buried treasure, they have to be dug up through experience and self-awareness. We have to remove doubt and disbelief in order to gain the confidence to use what we have.

This month,, the Path of Positivity challenge blog offers us the theme of Confidence with which to be inspired. I created a hybrid card with two images from Scribbles Designs. They are colored with Copics and then popped onto a digital scene I created in Photoshop. I also printed out my sentiment, whose second part is on the insode of my card, which reads:

"The second greatest challenge is nowing how to use them"

The following is what went into creating my hybrid card:

Images: Scribbles’ Designs Treasure Chest & Sand Bucket

Papers: Decosse’s Dynamite Doodles’  Grungy Christmas Brown Textured Paper & A Taste of Summer Sunburst Patterned Paper

Pixel Scrappers:  Janet Scott’s Ripped Paper Border Template & Many Thanks Shadowed Bunting; Melo Vrijhof’s Thankful Harvest Elements 2; Marisa Lerin’s  Coastal Seagull Metal.

Font: Hotline Bling

Scribbles Designs is one of two sponsors this month, offering crafters a $10 gift certificate to the Shop!

Our second sponsor is Ike'sArt, who offers a $15 worth if digital images from the Shop/

There will also be:

• A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Confidence can inspire a college graduation, someone starting a family, owning a new home, getting promoted, retiring...the list goes on. So, what inspires you to create with Confidence, about Confidence? Show us at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog this month!

Color Theme at the Outlawz Greetings Challenge

Today brings a new challenge to the Outlawz Monday Greetings, and it is a COLOR challenge: use Blue, Green & Red on your project this week. This week we have two generous sponsors, Robyn's Fetish

and My Stitch Back in Twine

I created a hybrid card using Copic-colored digi image called Mermaid Darcy from My Stitch Back in Twine, and a digitally-produced background for her. The background uses:

Pixel Scrapper Amanda Brown’s Hollister Crab Sticker; PS Janet Scott’s Winter Arabesque Ripped Paper, Strawberry Fields Sun Doodle & Work Day Red Dots Paper; PS Sharon Grant’s Fall Beach Vacation Embellishment 11; PS Melo Vrijhof’s Summer Splash Teal Zentangle Paper.  
 So, what's om your craft table this week? Hope there's some red, green & blue supplies so you can join us for this week's COLOR challenge at the Outlawz Greeting Challenge.

In the Good Old Summer Time at the Outlawz Greetings Challenges

Happy summer, crafters! For those in the northern hemisphere, that means sunny days and hot weather. This week at the Outlawz Monday greetings challenge, the theme is Summer Recreation. What do YOU do to keep cool and active?
This week's summer brings Lacy Sunshine to sponsor and inspire us. I colored up this pretty image called Sandy Boo - Collecting Seashells. Using Copics, I extended the beach from which she is gathering her shells. After popping her onto an embossed and inked card face, I embellished with twine and tiny colorful seashells. My sentiment says it all.
Do you play beach volleyball? Swim at the local pool? Play tennis or roller blade? Whatever you choose for recreation, let it inspire you to create something for this week's challenge at the Outlawz Greetings. Don't forget to keep hydrated as you craft! LOL

Challenges I am Entering:
Southern Ridge Trading Co. - Memories of Summer Mixed Media
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafting when We Can - Based on a Movie (Teen Beach Movie)
Eclecctic Ellapu - Life's a Beach
Cupcake Inspiration - Tropical

Guest Designer for 4 Crafty Chicks This Month!

Hey, crafters! During the month of July, I will be a GDT for 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge Blog! My first GDT project is a watercolor I created for their #306 Summer Challenge, which starts today.
While on vacation in May, I pulled my water color supplies and let myself be inspired by the view out our hotel window. The Muse hit me hard, so along with my painting, I also wrote a Haiku poem that describes my attitude during that sunny, sandy week. Haiku are difficult to write, as you only get 17 syllables with which to relay the message you wish readers to have. Most Haiku are about nature serious, but I like to slip in a little humor here and there.
I matted my canvas on the Paper Studio’s solid goldenrod cardstock. My poem  (copyright 2016 Pat Martin) was printed with LD Handwritten Greetings Font, matted with the Paper Studio’s teal cardstock. What's really cool is that I printed this up on glossy cardstock and made my friend a set of notecards for her summer birthday!
Now it's your turn to create with the theme of SUMMER. Don't forget to link up your card or project at 4 Crafty Chicks challenge blog by end of week. And tell them Pat sent you! LOL

Challenges I am Entering:

Sasayuki Glitter - CAS Cards

Craft Rocket Challenges - Anything Goes

Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes

New Challenge at the Path of Positivity

Howdy, y'all! I was going to say Aloha, but I just came back from a dream beach vacation. It wasn't in Hawaii, it was in Texas! There is a great escape waiting for you at South Padre Island, TX, where my family and I just spent 9 days. We sat in the sun, rocked in the shade, swam in the pools, walked along the shore, laid back in the hammocks, and generally did nothing but that! It was the most relaxing vacation I ever took, and it was sorely needed.
The greatest part about it was that we saved up for it all, and whatever part of the flights down there and the cost of the hotel, we paid off completely when our bill came in. Now THAT is a great achievement for us, so I created a tropical escape card for this month's ACHIEVEMENT challenge over at the Path of Positivity challenge blog. 
There are two lovely guest sponsors this month:

Robyn's Fetish

and

Kitten Scraps

My hybrid card uses papers and elements from Kitten Scrap's Summer Fish Fun Kit by Nathalie MacKay ©2008. I created the sea complete with waves using Photoshop, added many elements from the kit, and used Sweet Pea font.
What have you achieved that inpsires you to create this month? Or who inspired you? Why? Tell us, photograph the resaon or create a card, canvas or other form of art that showcases the theme of achievement for your chance to win the following. 

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:

• 3 Digital Stamps from Robyn's Fetish, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $20 gift certificate from Kitten Scraps, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

There will also be:

• A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Happy crafting!