Dead Head Fred

With chevrons being all the rage and Halloween being one of my FAVORITE holidays I just knew I had to make something to combine the two.

Meet Dead Head Fred. I just LOVE him! For directions, just check out below...

This was created on a 12x12 canvas. I lightly traced out a grid system knowing that my chevrons would have to be pretty darn straight for it to look right.

After tracing the lines I used painters tape to tape exactly where I wanted to paint.

All the exposed areas were painted orange. I used my heat gun to speed up the drying process but it really didn't take that long. I painted several coats, 3 I think and then it was done. I carefully removed the tape and went to tape over the orange. That didn't work so well. The tape didn't want to stick to the paint. After several attempts at trying to get it to stick, I ended up painting the black in by hand.

Then I painted the outside lip with black as well. Then as many of my projects do...it sat for a week or 2 LOL!

I ended up cutting frames out of some BEAUTIFUL Teresa Collins paper. The Halloween word paper is from last years Halloween collection and the black flocked frame is from her Timeless collection. Really makes the frame quite beautiful. Finally I purchased the glittered skull head from a local craft store and yes the glitter was already on it. I cut off the back of the head and hot glued it to the canvas. And now I have another fabulous Halloween decoration!!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Holy FUN, Batman!

Nothing like having a sick kiddo at home to make the world around you come to a screeching halt! That's been me the last 10 days. Today she returned to school, so hopefully we are on our way to a full recovery!

I finally managed to take some pictures of some layouts I have done recently. It seems I go in spurts of creativity...

The first 2 were for challenges I participated in with some friends. The first layout of my dog Charlie we all had the same 2 sheets of Authentique halloween paper and the blue Maya Road ribbon and had to create a layout using all of them. I will say this was truly a CHALLENGE! Was so thankful when I finally stumbled across this picture of my dog. And the rest is history.

The next challenge we came up with was to create a layout using NO patterned paper. (this was my challenge hehe) I used this fabulous stencil from Crafters Workshop, used some embossing enamel and 2 different colors of Zing embossing powder. I LOVE how this came out. The texture is amazing! I also love this photo of my youngest. I love even more when I can capture a photo like that without them knowing I did! 2 points for sneaky mom!

This next layout is just one I created on my own. Love this photo of my youngest playing with makeup one day. Really wanted to make it a fun, colorful layout since she's quite colorful herself!

And finally, this last layout is a new favorite. I ADORE this paper from Amy Tangerine and knew I didn't want to fill up the whole page with a lot of stuff since it would take away from all the goodness already on the paper. This photo worked perfect and I really LOVE the wood veneer happy word. These 2 beauties make me so happy! (yes I did pick out that hammock JUST because of the great colorful stripes!...it might have been on clearance too :)

Thanks for popping in! I'm working on a fun Halloween canvas I hope to post soon! Fingers crossed I can keep my kiddos healthy!

Kristy

life at supersonic speed

There goes another week! My kids schedules have me so busy that the weeks are flying by at an insanely fast speed!

Lots of things going on...appts, school play auditions, soccer practice, homework! whew! So basically what I.m saying is I have been a little lacking in the creating area! That being said I figured no blog post is complete without pics...

This first shot was earlyyyyyy last Sunday morning. I am currently training for a half-marathon. (yes I have completely lost my mind). Anyways, Sunday I had a 10k on my schedule. My sweet brother was nice enough to come run it with me. While I was waiting for him, I saw these little bunnies in the front yard. I love how the sky looks in this picture!

 

This next one is just a silly self portrait of sorts. Just playing mostly.

I mentioned we had been having quite a few soccer practices. Well Abby's practice last week happened to be while the remnants of Hurricane Issac were coming through. There weren't any storms, just rain...so they pushed on with practice. She had a blast. I held camp in the car. Nice and dry!

I am planning on playing in my scrappy room this weekend so hopefully I have some fun goodies to share from there soon. I will leave you with this picture of my Charlie. I have been trying to get back into taking pictures other than from my phone :D

Have a great day!

Clean and simple cards

I have had the urge to create lately, just haven't had much time. Yesterday I was able to carve out some time and play. I tend to keep things simpler, especially when it comes to cards I intend on mailing. So here are some of my quicky clean and simple cards. The flowers and vases are from a retired Stampin Up set that i dearly adore. It is probably one of my most used sets!

 

The little fox is a new stamp from Hero Arts. Just love the little guy!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

This is it...

It's on sale in stores starting TODAY! wowzers! Still feels so surreal! My layout you ask??? well let me show you:D

Copyright 2012 by Creating Keepsakes magazine. Posted with prior permission from the publisher

This is one of my favorite photos of Ellaroo and I really like how the layout turned out. Of course I'm thrilled they selected it! So go run out and buy your copy today!

Friday, Friday...

WOOHOO! Today's Friday! It also is the end to the first week of school for my kiddos. What a crazy week its been! Lots of nerves, throw in some excitement and a little SURPRISE and we had a full week! Both girls like their teachers (WHEW!), both were glad to see their friends again and meet some new ones. The biggest shocker came when I took my youngest for an eye exam. My 6 year old needs bifocals! *gasp* I am SO glad i was able to get her in to be seen this quickly. I had NO idea her eyesight would be as bad as it was. There is some optimism that she might grow out of the bifocals, but I am just so glad she will start to enjoy reading again. They will be a big adjustment for all of us. She picked out the cutest pair of purple frames. I will post a picture when they come in. Talk about a whirlwind week!

I haven't played in my scrappy kingdom much this week. I think my body is still in shock over the quiet house all day :D I did manage to make this little cutie last weekend. I really love this stamp from Hero Arts and have been wanting to try and see how much I can use it in varying ways. So you may see it used more than you care to.

Well thats all I have to share today! Hope to be back soon with some more fun stuff!

HOLD the PRESSES!

HOLD THE PRESSES!! Do you see that bright pink blinkie to the right?? ----------------------->

Yep that one! I got published in the Sept/Oct issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  It's getting ready to hit stores, so be sure to check it out! I am in the Fresh Faces article. I can't post the layout on here for a couple more weeks...but believe me I will as soon as I get the ok!! In the meantime, I have some new goodies to show you!



This is the summer I discovered that I am not meant for ridiculously hot weather :D But I guess if there is a silver lining in this cloud, its that I have spent more time creating this summer than I have in a long time. Feels so good. Its therapeutic and fun!

This first layout was a challenge from some friends. Create a layout using the words or title from either the Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful. I was quite surprised when I googled both to discover they had many more verses then I knew. This quote turned out to be perfect.

This next layout came from a challenge my friend Suzanne the AMAZING came up with for me :) She's great like that. Always helps snap me out of a slump or use something I wouldn't have thought to use. This particular challenge had to use some type of mixed media (ie. paint, gesso); have the color blue somewhere and must use an office supply. (I used the shipping tag).

This photo of my uncle throwing my youngest daughter back into the water cracks me up everytime I look at it.

This last layout helped me deal with the hot TN summers :) I miss the snow, but am so glad we had the opportunity to play in some serious white stuff before moving here!

Well I HOPE to be able to get back into a routine of updating my blog a little more regularly. Until next time...

some more pretties

There aren't too many holidays I don't LOVE, and Valentines is no exception. I was laid up the last couple weeks with some back problems. Boredom got the better of me and I started making some Valentines cards. I stumbled upon a blog that was taking donations of these cards to be sent to childrens hospitals so I jumped right aboard. My daughters also helped by writing all the messages inside. This has become a new tradition we will participate in from now on. It made my heart so happy to make these for such a good cause!

This is a cute birthday bag I made using Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer line. I love this paper! I love that is also can be used for so many other things besides just summer!

This was a Halloween tray i made for some decoration around my home. I love Halloween and was inspired when I found the wooden tray at the dollar store! I painted is black and away I went. I will love displaying this year after year.

Here are some mixed media canvases I made. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started them, but loved watching them evolve. These were so much fun to make!

Thanks for stopping by!

Follow Your Heart

I have been having spurts of creativity the last few months and wanted to share some on here. Of course I've been busy with kids, homework, work, housework...you know the drill.

Sometimes its been hard to find time to get into my studio and other times I don't want to leave it! :D

So here is some of what i have been up to lately...

this is my favorite face photo from 2011 and thats why im entering it in the best face photo from 2011 challenge at i heart faces!

it reminds me how i need to get back into shooting regularly!

thanks for stopping by!

boo! guess who!

yes its me! i took a VERY long break from my dear blog. sometimes it just needs to be done. and i cant guarantee that i will be able to keep it up, but i would really like to.

i am going to attempt to take a picture a day for the year. LOL...i realize i am setting myself up for some major failure, but wow if i actually did it would be fabulous!

so here goes:

JANUARY 1, 2012

JANUARY 2, 2012