CHA Pics!

Wow guys I cannot begin to tell you the crazy rollercoaster ride I went on just to got to CHA! My flights were cancelled twice! I was stuck in Phoenix overnight and everything was closed due to a black out! I was stuck in the airport from 1 in the afternoon until 11pm, when I got to the hotel they had another black out! When the lights came back on the heater didn't work! And that was all before I even got to CHA!  I ended up flying out the next morning, got to "sunny"(well, rainy) California with had just enough time to drop off my bags and head to the CHA Super show! Here are a couple of pics...

I set up a slide show because it seems to take a LONG time to upload a ton of pics! Hence the tecnical difficulties when I tried to upload them on the road! Sometimes I would spend an hour of trying and it still didn't work! But I am home now and you can see all the pics for the CHA Supershow and some of the  CHA Trade show here...

Of course I have a ton pics of the CHA Tradeshow as well!In spite of all the difficulties getting there and the computer issues I had a wonderful time! Here are some of my faves! Be sure to check in, I should have at least two more slideshows coming soon!

This is me (left) and my friend Diana who came out from Canada! She is on the team with me at Scrapbooking From The Inside Out!


Here we are with Carol Duvall!


Here is my new pal Vicki doing a make and take. She makes these beautiful little projects like this...


Adorable!You can see more of her work and a very new cool die she designed for Accucut on her blog here. I will be making couple of samples with this brand new template soon so be on the lookout!



 

CHA, CHA, Characters!

Oh I can't believe how time flies! I did these layouts but I have been so busy that I haven't gotten a chance to post them yet! This is me and my night owl. I was so honored that Kelly over at Keep in Touch card shop sent me the cutest things to work with. She always includes alot of vintage items in her kits. Totally cute!

Look at that cute bird button!

Oh yeah, he is a character all right! With all the winter weather it was nice to break out these summer photos to scrap! I am so tired of snow!!!

 Lucky for me I will be going to CHA!!! and the

Craft Supershow!!!
California here I come!!!
I cannot wait ! You will have to check in as I will be posting pics here (starting Friday!) and on the Scrapbooking From The Inside Out blog!!! Now if we could only get the weather to clear up there too...

Speaking of SFTIO, I totally took this off of the Scrapbooking From The Inside Out blog!!!

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One of my favorite things about Scrapbooking from the Inside Out is our challenges. We encourage a rich artistic exploration - one that takes your pages about emotion to the next level. We begin with a thoughtful prompt and add a design twist - a chance to use visual journaling to deepen the expression of the idea on your layout.


Here are our first three challenges for the POSSIBILITY kit...but you don't need the kit to join us! You can play along by creating your page to interpret the challenge, and post it in our gallery here. You'll need to register as a member of the Message Board first to log in. All layouts are eligible to win our individual challenges. Grand prizes are available to kit buyers, though, so if you've been wanting to join, that's another great reason! We judge challenges on the 30th, so you've got plenty of time...and there are more challenges to come. They're a great and meaningful way to explore your inner world.

January Challenge #1, One Word/Calendar
One Word: All our 'one words' begin with possibility - the belief that we can accomplish what we set out to do, that we have the self-awareness and opportunity to create our own future. Is picking a word for your year empowering or pressure-filled? How have your previous words (if you've had them) worked to help focus you? Have you referred back to them, like a mantra, or did you pick one and move away from using it as your year progressed? How might you handle that differently in 2010? Some of us have already started our scrapbook year getting underway with our one word.
Please create a LO about your one word for 2010, comparing it to the result, good or bad, of your focus on last year's word. Will you do it differently? Please use an interesting calendar motif on your page.



January Challenge #2, Are All Things Possible/Thought Bubbles
All Things Are Possible: Are they? How confident are you that all things are really possible? What gives you that belief - religion? Your own inner resources? What have you accomplished that you might have previously thought was impossible? How did you get to that place - were you surprised at your own strength and abilities, or did you watch yourself develop into a person who could do and be more? Are there people in your life who create a sense of possibility for you? Is anything actually impossible, or are you THE eternal optimist?

Tell us on a LO if, and then why or why not, you think all things are possible. For the design twist, please use thought bubbles of some sort.


January Challenge #3, Imagination/Song Lyrics, Not Title!
Imagine: If you let your imagination run wild, what do you dream of? How do your wildest dreams compare to your stated goals - how far off are they? If they're not close, why? What stops you from reaching for your more far out fantasies? Are you more of a realist or a dreamer? Were you a more fanciful dreamer as a child? What inspires you to think and dream big? If you could create one big thing in your life, one dream or goal, what would it be, and why?

Please create a LO about your wildest dream of your future. For the design twist, you just MUST use a song - there are so many good ones about imagination, fantasy, etc...but for your title, DON'T use the title of the song...pull out some lyrics that speak to your heart...and use a treatment on your title that tells the story visually - for example, if your title is 'on fire', make some flames...
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In addition to creating great pages by participating you can always win something! How fun is that?

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So dont forget to check in Friday!!!

New

Ahhh week two of Your Lifetime Story challenge - scrapping my baby pictures was a lot harder than I thought! (Yes this is me!) First there is a LOT of editing to do on these ancient (lol) pictures, second I am so spoiled! I am used to printing whatever size I choose to scrap but if I blow up these pictures (that I scanned) they come really blurry! So I have to scrap little pictures. :(

Also I haven't quite got into a groove, not really sure what I want to say...I guess that will come. One thing that was fun is that I picked this quote (because I didn't know what to say) and it ended up with this months theme, "Possiblity" at Scrapbooking From The Inside Out. How cool is that?

Another cool thing is I used two of my favorite paper lines; the middle is Websters  and the top and bottom is from GCD Studios.

One of the tools I am loving lately is my ink blending tool!
Seriously, for less than $5.00 You can totally change things up! Above the flowers on the Websters were white. The GCD paper was black flocking on off white paper. I wanted to make the two lines go togther so I dabbed my inking tool into pink ink and applied it to my papers in a circular motion. I gives a pastel feel and I love it! I can also go back and make some sections darker than others or add other colors. (Which can look very cool - I have a sample but I can't show you yet! And no I do not work for Ranger! LOL!)

I did use Glimmer mist on my white Prima rose as I wanted just a hint of pink.

On this shadow box for Project 52 I changed the flowers from white to orange and the tree trunk from white to brown using the same tool and technique.

Can you see the angel in th top left hand corner? He is watching over baby girl, I did this box for her. She is always creating and singing (like her mommy). I wanted it to be like a fanatsy, magical and fun. Oh and did I mention she thinks she is a princess, hence the crown.

She is surrounded by beauty and imagination. Wisdom (owl), music (notes and a song bird) and nature representing growth. (The papers are from Websters.) Sometimes it's fun to do something out of the box...or in the box...You know what I mean!

Oil pastels...Techniques

So it's my first page in a my art journal and I thought I'd try something that I've never tried before...oil pastels. I wont say that I loved it but it was a process and I might try it again..First I am by no means an expert, just sharing what I've done you can google oil pastels if you want more information.

Here is my rough sketch. ( Very rough! Ha ha !)

This is the first layer of oil pastel, looks much like crayons. I had to go back and add a thicker layer on top.

After you have a really thick layer, you need to scrape off the layers of pastels.

You'll end up with alot of this...
I will caution you at this time to make sure your working surface is covered as this does creep onto the back of your project as well as all surfaces! These scrapings are not dry like crayons but oily so I had to take a dry paper towel to wipe off any excess.

I wasn't that thrilled with the results so I took another towel to wipe (rub off) off anything that was left.

I used small circles to rub off off the rest and was able to manipulate the oils to cover the center of the circle.
Still not loving my results so I had to add to it..

Seriously I do not work for this company but I LOVE their products ! I have mentioned them before, they make the Moon Glow sprays I am always using. I found them at a scrapbook convention but you can find them online at Lindys Stamp Gang. The colors are amzing, you should go check it out! This is one of their Starburst sprays and they come in these really vibrant colors and have a metallic sheen to them, this is "sweet violet".

Added some words, kinda where I'm at right now. "Looking" is a stamp set, the other words were freehand. Still seems to be missing something so lets try a mask...

Just a simple circle and some stamping...

And a little metallic paint splatter.

And there you have it. Art Journal, week one.

Stories of a Lifetime

Today is so exciting! Two things to share with you today! One is this layout for Faith Sisters ! Today is the first day for "Your Lifetime Story". The first challenge is to make a title page for your book! I had to make a collage and this is what I came up with! I cannot tell you how much editing I had to do to these old photos to mak them look normal! I got these photos from my mom, some were from my grandmothers. I don't have to tell you how discolored the pictures get form putting them in those horrible old sticky backed photo albums!

Yes, that is me and my mom! LOL! And me now. As you can see in most of the pictures my mom kept my hair short (picture me making a face! hated it!) because it was so curly she didn't know what to do with it! By the time I got in High School I let it grow and to this day prefer long hair...even if it is in a ponytail most of the time! (Little trivia for ya!LOL!)

Something else I noticed was the amount of yellow in the pictures.That cracks me up because I wear alot of colors but the one color you will not find in my closet is yellow! I dont even scrap yellow! I may use it as an accent color, but it will be a pale yellow. But enough about that!

This challenge has just started so you can still join in and make your title page this week! Check out the link above!

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On a different subject yesterday they announced the new design team at Scrapperie and guess who's on it???   Me!      

Scrapperie has been totally revamped as a challenge blog and there will be challenges everyday of the week!SO if you're in a rut or just looking for a challenge go check it out! I will be posting a technique challenge there every other Tuesday beginning Jan 19th! All of the challenges start on Jan 18! No pressure, you can do as many or as few challenges as you want!

Hope to see you there!

                                                 

Opportunities...

Here is hubby and baby girl. I have to take pictures this way because hubby is just as bad as my teens, doesn't want to be in pictures! Drives me crazy! So I have to take them on the sly, and not show them to them until after I have them printed! LOL! Otherwise he says "delete that!" Well so sorry hubby, yes I made a layout about you!

Using my "Possibility" kit from Scrapbooking From The Inside Out  I made two more layouts! (See previous post.) Most of the paper on this layout is from College Press and the bottom pattern paper is Basic Grey. This phrase that hubby says is perfect for the "possibility" theme!

 Speaking of Opportunities - remember that crop I told you about at Citrus Tree Studio? Well I won this Oasis DSLR Handbag (to carry my camera) !!! How cool is that? Next time I tell you about a crop you need to "go" with me!
I love cyber crops!

This layout (same kit) came about from a song I'm
writing!!!(ahem...Emily.) Yep this is part of it - it's not finished but I had to scrap it!!!

Papers for this layout are from College Press.


A little pocket on the bottom for the finished song later!

AHHH something different...

well a few weeks ago you saw my Peace Fairy...

well, I've been doing these fun art challenges at Bad Girls Project 52 This week I made this...

and she earned me this...

Here is the whole thing...looks like she's singing to me.  :)

Here are some close ups of the sea glass and the mermaids tail I made! I love doing this fun and messy stuff! The "sea glass" is actually little pieces of acrylic I sprayed with glimmer mist, then embossed with Utee, then added a little alcohol inks! SO fun to experiment- especially when it comes out the way you imagined! I free handed the tail, used the same product but did alot more melting with my heat gun to make it smooth. I used Stickles to make the scales! I wish you could see how much this shimmers in the light!

These projects are posted the second and fourth Monday and they are on challenge # 7 if you want to check it out! This one is to create something with a frame, insects and fabric!

I hope that you make time to do something a little creative in your life! I have more to show you but it will have to wait for another day!! But it will be soon because things are happening around here! So come back and visit and leave a comment!