A Sweet Treat

Nothing like a little ice cream to finish off a nice day in the mountains.

For this page, I used one of the stamp sets I had set out for the summer.  I won it as blog candy and was particularly pleased as it is a set I'd always considered buying.  I used the journal stamp for the ice cream.  The video shows how to make the ice cream cone.

The papers are scraps from my 6x6 paper pads.

Here's the video at YouTube:


And here is the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by today!

Road Trip 6x6 Mini book

Hi!  I'm back from a 9 day road trip to visit my husband's family.  Whew!  Lots of miles and smiles.  It was great to see everyone.  I don't go every year so I got to catch up on what had changed in their towns and lives.

Before I left, I made myself a little minibook from 6x6 paper pads.  It took 45 minutes to assemble and be ready to do journaling on the road.

The process for making and the completed book are in the video:


Have you had your vacation for the year?  My only problem is that it is when my husband goes on this venture by himself most summers, I do my 'spring' cleaning.  So I haven't done those annual chores yet.  Oh well, I'd rather craft than clean.

And speaking of crafting, have you tried Zentangle. I've played a little. Good news for those of us who want to learn more.  This month's free Scrapinar is on Zentagle on August 26.  Check it out here...

Zentangle Class

2 Pager with Stenciling and Photo Collage

Another wonderful 4th of July in Farmville, NC.  I swear I think I'm going to see the ghost of Norman Rockwell painting the scene.  It is so authentic.

The photo collage was simple to construct from 4x6 prints.  It fills the lower right part of the page as the stencils cut from the Silhouette fill the upper left part of the spread.

I also used some stamps I'd pulled for use this summer.










Here's the video at YouTube


And here is the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by!

Plain to Wow!

A box + book paper + gelli prints on tissue paper + a big dose of Mod Podge = a cool box

The box is the one my contacts come in.  These are super strong boxes to begin with but add a few coats of Mod Podge and they are extra sturdy.

I printed the gelli prints on plain wrapping tissue paper from the dollar store.

Check out the video for this project here:


Thanks for stopping by today!

Notebook with Gelli Print Cover (Video)

It's that time again for a new notebook for my to-do lists.  I haven't quite jumped on the planner kick yet.  I lived by my Franklin/Covey planner back in the '90's and early 2000's.  Nowdays my life just isn't quite that complicated and I really like having my schedule electronic.

I've tried making to-do lists on the computer though and that just doesn't work for me so I do my notebooks.  The basic notebook I use has been discontinued as far as I can tell.  I still have one more I haven't used.  The ideas here would apply to any spiral bound notebook.

For this cover, I took a gelli print and added a little more decoration with markers.  The rest of the cover is very simple and flat.

Watch at YouTube


Have you tried any of the planner systems on the market right now?  If so which ones do you like?

Thanks for stopping by today!

New Newsletter soon

My July newsletter will tell you more about these cards and a quick card recipe.  If you aren't already signed up, just sign up on the right of the screen.  The free newsletter contains a subscriber only video.

I'll have a new project video up this week also.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Alcohol Ink on Glass

Over the 4th of July, I got to visit my best friend Karen for a weekend of crafting, celebrating and visiting.  It was great fun as always!

One crafting supply I particularly enjoy playing with at her house are Ranger Alcohol Inks.  I don't have any of these.  I can't ever really commit to them as I have so many other kinds of inks and paints and just don't have that many projects to use them on.

Soon after I arrived at Karen's, her dear husband bought us some 4th of July flowers.  After she found a vase I got to thinking that I'd been wanting to try the alcohol inks on a vase.  Soon I spotted round clear container in her collection and thought it would be a good smooth surface to work on.

The purple one above was that first effort.  I cut a border design from the Cricut and adhered it with tape runner adhesive to the outside of the clear container.  I then applied alcohol inks in purple, dark blue and silver.  It took a few layers to get the design to really show up.  It also took rewatching the videos as I'd forgotten how to use these inks.

At Michaels we found another such container and I made a second piece this time without the border as it hadn't shown up as much as I wanted it to.  The purple one was supposed to be for Karen and this second one for me but she liked the 2nd one best and I like the colors on the first one.  I'm still not sure about using the stencil.

I washed these off to be sure any alcohol was gone before putting the candles in.  There wasn't any ink on the inside but I didn't want to take chances.  You can't rub these though when wet.  The ink comes off!  I thought it would be permanent.

My husband kept trying to pick out designs that were part of the background not the stenciled off areas on the purple one.  It reminded me of those drawings where you can see an old woman looking at it one way or a young woman looking another.  He says there is a 'face' in my design.  Whatever.

Anyway, it was fun and we each have a candle holder to remember our weekend.  Do you use alcohol inks?  What do you use them for?

Thanks for stopping by!

A little rain...

Didn't spoil our day out in early June.  I checked the weather carefully and the Weather Channel assured me that it would not rain until after lunch.  And we know the Weather Channel is never wrong, right?  I should know better.  And we really needed the rain.

So we wandered around a local garden in a light rain. We enjoyed the Zimbabwean sculpture exhibit they had on display.  Each piece was well placed within the garden.

This two page layout uses the mini book I created in this video  from a divided page protector.

The page also uses a lot of Washi and wood veneer.  The clouds are a treat from my friend Dani!  I embossed them with white embossing powder.

After completely finishing the page, I realized a much easier way to do the photo collage with Washi and I talk about that in the video.

Here's the video for the 2 pager:



And here is the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by today.