Dog Days of Summer: Donut Puppy stamped card

Welcome to the dog days of summer! This week on my blog I’ll be sharing ideas for the dogs. To kick things off, I’m playing with a new stamp – a puppy in a donut! What could be cuter for a Monday? This is a Sweet Stamp Shop stamp – part of a new release I just couldn’t resist. Calorie free donuts? Yes please! Continue reading “Dog Days of Summer: Donut Puppy stamped card”

have fun with your art.

ThermOWeb sent me some new Rebekah Meier surfaces a while back, and as I continue to play and get to know them as well as how they work best I wanted to pause and share one specific product I think is cool, as well as talk a bit about creative play.

There is a reason art journaling is wildly popular, and why I can be found most days testing things out on scraps of paper is because it offers no pressure creative freedom. Trying to jump in with an unknown or untested medium or technique is brutal. It pushes us too hard too fast! Too much pressure! It also increases the chances of frustration, failure, and stress.

I don’t know about you – but I want none of that in my creating! My solution? I test things out. In a small batch or amount, in an art journal or on paper in some way that provides NO risk. Here is a quick YouTube video I created.

Affiliate links used. The Art Paper can be found in stores (here’s a link to Scrapbook.com) – as well as the rest of this line. If you’d like to see more here’s a link. I also used a stencil – here’s a link to that. In these photos I used white paste for my stencil then used oil pastels (just like in video).

In my video I focused on Art Paper – but truly any product or technique you may have will apply here. I am currently trying to figure out how to add a watercolor strip to a wall without drips. Easy? NO! So I’m testing ideas with paints of all sorts in my art journal where there is no stress, pressure, or fuss. Just experiments. I hope I’ve encouraged you to just play and test – and to let go of expectations even if just for a few minutes. To truly enjoy the process and find creative freedom I’ve found this to be  a necessary weekly occurrence.

Have FUN with it. Are you working with anything new or want to know about something new in particular? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you.

Crafting the Perfect Lunch

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® community. This has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #PackThePerfectLunch #CollectiveBias Note that as always – all ideas and opinions are my own, and I only ever share things I love, believe in, and enjoy here on my blog. Today I am thrilled to share with you some crafty fun ideas -and a new personal product favorite all while crafting up a good lunch…

The photo you see above? That’d be my lunch! I love taking a small plate, filling it up, then eating as I work (or write blog posts!). Ah, but this post isn’t all about me. It’s about lunch time! School is in session and now that the kids are older I asked them to help me explain our formula for packing (and crafting) the perfect lunch. We’ve spent the summer eating relatively healthy (when not traveling) and exercising a lot – we don’t want to lose momentum! So first and foremost we went for supplies.
Continue reading “Crafting the Perfect Lunch”

Scrapbooking: Banners & Die Cuts

My friends at Scrapbook.com asked me if they could send me some of their exclusive dies to play with – and today I’m using them to test out an idea for a scrapbook page! Note that affiliate links are used in this post.

I have been getting TONS of scrapbook layout requests as well as questions which makes me so happy – I love sharing scrapbooking ideas and tips! For a project like this my big tip is to use the edges of your photos as the line you attach or ground everything to. Continue reading “Scrapbooking: Banners & Die Cuts”

Vinyl decorated pencil cups

I’ve got a serious vinyl addiction, folks! Combine it with my ScanNCut (for which I am a paid consultant (for Brother) but as always all ideas and opinions are my own) and I simply can’t stop! Today I’m sharing a tutorial for how I took two cups (that were on sale two for a dollar!) and turned them into the new pencil/colored pencil cups for school.
Continue reading “Vinyl decorated pencil cups”