Something Old, Something New

 

When I was growing up, my Gramma and Mom were always crafting. Gram because she was a frugal German, and my mom because she was a Girl Scout leader for several years. One of their earlier projects was a kitchen shadow box. It was filled with botanicals, uncooked beans and whatever else they could fit into the small cubbies. The beans (Pinto, Navy, Split peas, etc.) were coated in Mod Podge, an up & coming craft supply that quickly became a household name. Sealed behind glass, their boxes  made lovely, homemade decorations for the kitchen. In fact, after Gram passed, I inherited her shadowbox...

...which gave me the inspiration to create a new" shadow basket". Using a shallow basket (maybe it's the top to another container?), I gave it new life by adhering bright, blue tissue paper as a background (with Mod Podge, of course).  I then arranged flower blossoms and petals and blossoms and adhered them into my "garden."

To make it more earthy, I stuffed green moss, into the empty pockets between the flowers. To tweak the scene, I used a small piece of a succulent in the corner, and then added a butterfly to finish off my basket shadow box. It's now hanging on my own kitchen wall. I'd like to give a shout out to my Gram and my mom for passing down their crafting genes. Gram also had the greenest thumb in the county, and Mom wrote poetry as  well as crafting projects for family, Girl Scouts and in her later years, craft fairs. Love you both, miss you with all my heart...

Challenges I am Entering:

Dragonfly Dreams - Butterflies

We Love 2 Create - Anything Craft, Card making & Scrapbooking Mixed Media

Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Florals Goes with Optional Mood Board #29

Morgan's Art World - Anything Goes

The Crafting Challenge - Anything Goes

The Four Seasons - Summer season

31 Days of Halloween - Day 6 - From Easter to Halloween decor

 

I love October! The scent of the air has a warm and comforting smell. The leaves are falling, making the sidewalks look like colorful carpets. And my favorite holiday for crafting is closer than ever! So, in anticipation of Halloween, I altered another wooden sign from the Dollar Store. 

I altered several of these boxes, which were purchased months ago at a thrift store, a bag of thirteen pieces for $10. Half of them went into summer decor, which you can fins=d on my blog HERE. Today I was a wicked crafter and above is the result of my maniacal imagination.

After removing the Easter decoration, I painted the front white with acrylic paint. I then adhered a Halloween napkin with homemade Mod Podge, after pulling off the extra layer of napkin so that it wouldn't form bubbles.

After it dried, I dabbed at the border of my wooden canvas to highlight the actual scene. Adding a plastic spider as well as some lace seemed fitting for this project. Now I have a cool Halloween canvas to celebrate the season! And all it took me was time to let the paint and the Mod Podged-scene to dry.

The Beauty of Unconditional Love

My daughter-in-law has asked me for another memory box in which to place keepsakes of my newest grandson. Since I had already created a memory box for her, I decided that the next one would be for Jonathan's daddy. I think there is nothing as beautiful as the unconditional love that a parent can give their children. No matter what toll the terrible two's, thrilling three's or heart-wrenching teens take on parents, their love is everlasting.
So my memory box was created with the Path of Positivity's challenge theme of Beauty this month. I colored up a digital image from Sami Stamps called Daddy's Kisses and placed it in a photo flip pocket, so that when the pocket is flipped, you can place another photo on the other side, like below.

I took an over-sized photo box and Mod Podged it with lovely royal blue tissue papers for the bottom, and black & white herringbone for the cover. Coordinating ribbon embellish my photo and my sentiment, while stars adorn the top of the box. I plan to add more to the sides of the memory box before giving it to my son and his wife.

Meanwhile, we have reached the midway point of this month's theme of Beauty at the Path of Positivity challenge blog. Show us what you think Beauty is in a card, layout, canvas, photography or essay. We have two sponsors this month:

Sami Stamps

and Luna Girl

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:

• A $12 gift certificate from Sami Stamps, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

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.

Altered Journal for POP Challenge

I so love the guest sponsor for the Path of Positivity's challenge this month. Sparkle & Sprinkle has the most beautiful images with which to play, and today I played!!
I used their image called Danielle-Hat Lady and altered a notebook. My sentiment reads "It's easy to stand with the crowd...it takes courage to stand alone."
This sentiment is perfect for the plans I have for my altered notebook. I don't understand why people wait until January 1 to "make resolutions" to improve their lives. How many of us change our life plans once the school year begins? I for one work at a private school and am the program assistant for the night classes we offer. Our year started in late September, and my work load and my hours changed drastically (I'm going to miss those Fridays off).
I like to start my "new year" with, not resolutions, but a journal of new experiences I encounter, experiences that will make me stronger, healthier, even more courageous. So why not celebrate each little victory (last year I went ice skating for the first time on my life) by keeping track of them all in a beautiful journal that I altered with this lovely SNS digi image?
I colored my stylish lady with Copics, then fussy-cut her and Mod Podged her onto this beautifully-decorated journal. Then I wanted to inspire myself to take bold steps and giant leaps along the path of courageous new experiences by adding the sentiment. I also added embellishments in the way of the black flourish border, the butterfly charm and the bird outline. Not too many, as I want to take my journal along the path with me and capture the moments of courageous adventure immediately, so I couldn't make it too bulky.
Now that's it's done, what should I try that's new and interests me? Maybe I'll take a Yoga class (or Zumba?). Maybe I'll take a road trip all by my lonesome. Maybe I'll forget my fears of how I look and attend my high school reunion (don't ask, let's just say there will be a lot of grey-haired ladies and balding men). Whatever path I take, wherever the path leads me, I will take my courage and my little adventure journal with me. I hope we meet along the way!
But before I start, you should know the wonderful prizes that are offered with this Path of Positivity Challenge:
Sparkle N Sprinkle is the sole sponsor for this challenge:  They are offering up three prizes for this challenge, which will be:Three digital images for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.

• Three digital images for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• Three digital images for a project or post that best displays the concept of courage in a creation meant for a breast cancer survivor (since it is breast cancer awareness month).

There will also  be:

• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital Stamps for each person chosen as a DT Delight.
• One digital designer paper (made to order in a few different ways) from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Wedding Plans - Star Fish Boutonnieres

I have been working on groomsmen's boutonnieres for my son's wedding next month.  The theme is tropical, and the bride, her mom and I have been working together to give all aspects of the celebrations that tropical touch.  We went online and found some made with starfish, and I opened my big mouth and said, "I can do that!"

So now I have the ultimate task of turning highly fragile starfish into something worthy to pin onto tuxedos.  Here's where I started:

After carefully handling four starfish, and quickly breaking off a point on each, i thought to use Mod Podge to  "toughen" them up.  While they were drying, they actually felt spongy (as if they were coming back to life on my craft table).  Yikes!!

When hubby proposed we go out to dinner, I gladly left my project to properly dry.  When I came home, they were somewhat stiffer.  So I added some Diamond Stickle on each to make them sparkly (and hopefully make them even more "tough").

After several attempts at putting together a decent-looking piece, the bride and I finally agreed on a final draft.  And here it is:

So this week I am focusing on finishing off a clean dozen of these little guys.  I'm using hot glue to adhere a pinback onto each, with which to attach them to lapels.  There aren't that many guys in the wedding party, but you never know if one of these manly men will be too rough on his and break it.  So I plan to have back ups!!  LOL

Summer is Almost Here

Well, today was a good day to explore mixed media showcasing a QKD set of digi images from the Queen herself, Vicky D!  The set is called Patchwork Spring and is available in the QKD Shoppe!

I used a manila folder cut to 6x6 for my base, adding a piece of patterned paper.   Next I Mod Podged a square of tie-dye patterned designer napkin, adding some ink to distress it, as well as  the "shadow" cut of a peacock.

After printing the digi set on several pieces of patterned paper, I paper-pieced each flower, adhered it to my "garden" and added stems and leaves.  Same with the butterfly and dragonfly!

I added to the over-all effect with black and white gel pens, pulling out the "bones" of each image, and the highlighting them.  I wish you could touch my card--it certainly has a different "feel" to it!

Have you discovered a technique you want to try?  Did you "pin" something you want to explore?  Now's the time to "get 'er done", and a QKD digi like this set would be a perfect starting point for you!!

Happy crafting!