Month: January 2015

My piece for 2015 Ranger Designer Challenge…



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I’ve got a confession. I’ve always wanted to do the Ranger Designer challenge. I see the amazing things people make and I always thought it’d be cool to be asked. They display these pieces (all focused on a single product/line) at their trade show booth and it is always a favorite of mine to see.

Well… last November I got the call. I then stared at a blank canvas for something silly like 2 weeks unable to bring myself to make anything even though I had a vision almost immediately of what to do.

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The focus was on Dina Wakley Media products, and I got to thinking about using just a few… and ended up using every single one except red. I sketched on this canvas. I added paper layers. metal. alllll kinds of things and initially very little color.

If you follow me on instagram (@may_flaum) you get all kinds of sneaky peeks into my happenings here.

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What intimidated (and made me determined to work on my lack of skills) me was that I really wanted to doodle. Sketching with gesso helped me formulate my plan. The use of layers worked well for me. Once I got my petals down and my many things glued down it was just time to color and play.

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I played. Then I painted and painted more.

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I even painted + cut out “color” from cardstock. Yeah, my own handwriting. Then more texture. More colors. More play.

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I was so very happy with this finished piece and I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at the absolutely wild canvas I made. Thank you to Dina Wakley and the Ranger Ink crew for inviting me to take part. It truly was an honor and my pleasure to spend so many hours crafting this.

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Recipe: May’s (creative deadline) pasta

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Last weekend I needed to make something for dinner. If I could, the preference would be something the girls and I could enjoy for two meals so I only had to muck up the kitchen once. When I’m on a creative streak and under deadline I really do like to try and cook something that will be healthy, tasty, and provide leftovers.

I took out:

  • 1lb ground turkey
  • 1-2tsp salt
  • big spoon full of fresh (chopped) garlic
  • bag of “ready to stir fry” veggies (kale, chard, carrots, broccoli mix)
  • 1 box pasta
  • 1 can tomato & basil pasta sauce

First I cooked the meat, then I added the veggies, the pasta sauce, and about 3/4 cup of water and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the veggies seemed nice and tender. You need to add the water because otherwise things are just too thick and dry. Then I poured my concoction over pasta, added a bit of parmesan, and served it up.

The verdict? The kids both loved having “pasta” and didn’t mind all those veggies. I loved that it didn’t take long or make much mess but that it was a great way for us all to get a LOT of veggies and enjoy home cooked food vs frozen or restaurant eats.

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I happened to have a Costco bag ‘o stir fry veggie goodness so my dish had about 6-8 cups of veggies- but you don’t need to. Just chop up whatever you like! Zucchini, carrots, broccoli, spinach, kale, chard… anything you like! The more the better. Enjoy good eats + leftovers that taste just as good.

Don’t blame the banana…

About four years ago I was sitting between two very fit and trim friends and I couldn’t have been more insecure.

“I’m fat because I can’t eat bananas!” I heard myself blurt out during a favorite healthy snack conversation. Both ladies smiled and were sympathetic but even as the words settled back into my brain I heard how idiotic I was. Defensive after a doctor’s visit where I was input as “obese” I was explaining to these women – fitness professionals actually – that I couldn’t be more trim because bananas made me gag and therefore weren’t edible to me.

It was one of my lamer moments, and one of my biggest realizations.

Every time I picked crackers or other useless carbs, every time I filled up on more cheese or had a sugary pure fruit smoothie I soothed myself by blaming a freaking banana.

The next day I put a ½ of a banana in my lunch smoothie and hated it. I repeated this every day until I didn’t mind. Eventually I worked my way up to microscopic bits of banana being in my cereal. After several months I was able to eat a small bite directly from the banana. Today I still dislike bananas, but I can, if necessary, eat one slowly.

These days I watch out for banana peels aka things I’m holding up as excuses. I hit one last fall in the form of telling myself it wasn’t my fault – I simply couldn’t draw anything good. I’ve been working on that a lot and today I painted a path + trees + lady that I did not hate.

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note this is just a peek… the whole piece is for my Art in your Journal class currently happening at craftwithmay.com

Tiny, microscopic, little efforts every day add up my friends. And whether you’re trying to learn to be ok with the foul fruit that is banana and not gag (seriously. So foul.) or wanting to learn a new skill just make that one thing a priority, try a little each day, and don’t give up.

quick love card with Maggie Holmes embellishments

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I pulled out my Maggie Holmes embellishment jar (for cute… I just had to have one) to make this card.

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A little stitching, some die cuts from another Crate Paper line (can’t find a link- sorry), a few drops of Heidi Swapp mist and boom! card is made.

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I know it seems impossible… but February (and Valentine’s Day) are just over two weeks away. How did that happen?! I’m really not sure – but at least I have this lovely card to send out and not many more to make this year.

This week my head is in the creative clouds..

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This week… well my head really was up in the clouds as I COMPLETELY went off topic and was playing with the pretty kit and just, well, forgot the challenge theme! WHOOOPS!

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It’s cool though – I can tie this in because the theme is “in the clouds”! Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here.

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My project started simple (haha) and actually took less than an hour of actual craft time. Want to see how I made it?  I made videos! Yes!

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Supplies Used:


The 3-part series of tutorial videos – and many more to come – all are on my YouTube channel here. I’m almost into a good groove here of having new content up every week! So if there is anything you’d like to see featured – let me know!