Getting back to business...winners inside

 Finally I am up and about - slowly  but surely healing.
Thank you for your sweet get well wishes!

I was even blessed by a very sweet friend sending me flowers!

If you did not catch  my post I recently had emergency surgery

 http://letsembellish.blogspot.com/2012/05/give-away-surgery-and-regularly.html?showComment=1337685069750#c5968072396993051318

but I am doing better now.

It is amazing things that you take for granted, that come naturally

until you can't anymore because they cause you great pain -

like getting up all by yourself, walking, laughing, sneezing, coughing,
taking a deep breath,

having a coherent conversation...

In addition to healing I was chair bound (thank God for recliners!)

 and in and out of consciousness so when I was awake I was bored.

I watched a lot of movies- OK well parts of the movies because I kept falling asleep!

One day I was determined to get back to scrapping, I had my night owl

go get the basics(scrapbook room is upstairs! eeek!)-
by the time we had it all set up I was

too exhausted and went back to sleep! LOL!

Later I had him take it back and just get me a pencil and my sketchbook,
here are some of the pics I drew!

 I don't know why but this one reminds me of my oldest daughter

when she was headed off to college.

This one is kinda funny to me - instead of  drawing what naturallycomes to me

 I was trying to make the eyes really big and cartoon like.

When I finished her face I just knew she was a super hero!

This was about week after surgery,

I was still not functional and frustrated.

The house was a disaster,

 the kids were running amuck, everyone kept asking me questions!

  I am drawing this girl thinking what am I "superwoman"?

You probably can't read it on the page because lighting is bad and it's in pencil

 but I wrote "Hold on while I grab my cape!" on the page.

Probably won't be drawing this type of girl again, not really my style,

 but  a little art therapy is good I think.

So anyways I still have not had the time to catch up on all your lovely blogs,

I still have some pain, get tired easily and get nausous in the car. 

 I have lots of catching up to do - house stuff, kid stuff, work projects due, etc.

 but I did manage to pick not just

two but 4 winners from the Faber-Castell/Prima Blog Hop.

Pooky

Miriam P

Sharon G

and Renee (Luv This Scrap)

Please email me your addy and I will get these out next week!

Thank you for being so patient and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Imagine

 

Sometimes a layout speaks for itself.

No it does not have journaling but I was thinking of this

more like wall art. I used a 12 x 12 sheet of acrylic from Clear Scraps and LOTS

of artsy products! My little one is truly a girlie girl, so this is perfect for her!

Perhaps you have a girlie girl too?

I left the acrylic areas behind the stenciled heart clear, you could put paper

behind it; because I left it clear it will match any decor.

The stencil , ribbon, paper and flowers are Prima.
To get that dreamy background color I used Gesso and then three colors of  Gelatos
 (Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft) and blended with a little water paintbrush.
The beautiful lace is self adhesive ribbon tape from Love My Tapes.

Here is another peek at the title, a slightly different angle
so you can see the colors- I love Gelatos!
The title is also acrylic (small clear expressions from Clear Scraps.)

I hope this inspires you to create something pretty today!

give away, surgery and regularly scheduled programs

Hey bloggers -

 If you have been blogging for any amount of time you know that you can schedule blog posts ahead of time. This weeks posts (other than this one) were already scheduled last week. Unfortunately I have not had the time or energy to look through the list of the Faber/Prima blog hop comments to choose a winner. I had planned on adding it to todays post "Grandmas doilies".

 Last Friday I was admitted into the ER and ended up having an emergency gall bladder surgery that afternoon! No - I didn't know about any condition before hand, so  I guess it was good I went to the doc - who rushed me to the ER. Long story short all my posts have been posting and todays went up without a winner. I am getting better everyday but I am exhausted and am not awake long enough to do anything substantial. Not even scrap! They say I should be more "normal" in 8-10 days ...today is day 6 and I'm not feeling anywhere near "normal". I wont bore you with the painful details. I am hoping to get a winner posted posted by this weekend, please bear with me.

Meanwhile thank you for your sweet comments - especially on Mothers day, I think it was the first Mothers day  I have not attended church, I was too sore and sick from the surgery and was feeling quite depressed. I was able to read your comments and will get back to reading and commenting on your blogs as soon as I am feeling better. I hope you are having a great week.

Grandmas doilies?

Hey there bloggers, Rita Barakat here!

Here is a card I made with Grandma's Doilies stamp set from The Rubber Cafe.

Had I noticed the name of this stamp set before I started playing with

it this card may have gone in a totally different direction but I'm kinda pleased
with the way it turned out.

I used embossing powder to make the doilies pop!

                                                  I also used Gelatos to get the rich color!

Supplies:

Grandma's Doilies stamp set from The Rubber Cafe

Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Gelatos,

Embossing Ink & Powder, Card stock,

Love My Tapes lace tape

BLOG HOP with Faber-Castell & Prima!!!

Is there anything better than two companies combining their amazing products?

Today we have a joint venture by Prima Marketing and Faber-Castell!
Not only do our products work perfectly together, but they provide

wonderful platforms for inspiration and creativity!

We challenged our talented design teams to create projects combining

products just for YOU! Hopefully they will get your creativity going too.

We've also included a chance to win some of our products.

Hop around to our talented design team blogs and leave a comment on

each of their blogs. Both the Prima Blog and the Faber -Castell Blog will be giving prizes!

If you are new to my blog welcome. If you are a regular

thank you for being here!

I have a Prima mini album to share with you today!

I shared the cover a while back but never got to the inside- when I recieved my

box full of Prima goodies I was totally inspired to go back and finish the inside!

Most of the work is done with Gelatos- wet and dry techniques- the cover was wet.

Here she is, my Prima ballerina- this book is for her-

she loves it and all things feminine! She has always wanted

to take ballet lessons and she loves every minute of it!

This small Prima canvas already has the resist pattern to it so adding dry Gelatos

is a perfect medium to highlight it! The ribbon, butterfly and ballerina are also Prima.
I did make her a lovely skirt to go with her ensemble! ( Can you tell I had a little fun!) 

Here is the other side to that page- using Gelatos

dry with a sponge applicator and a Prima stencil.

Similar techniques here...

Here I went back with  a Prima stamp and acrylic white paint over the Gelato back ground.

I wish I could get you to see this page in person - it was hard to capture

but I used a texture paste with sand in it - although the entire page is blue

the coarse texture gives the color gradient and depth!

And on the last page I added an image transfer to get that dreamy

look and painted a pic of my little one- I can imagine her as she

gets older, I wonder if she will always dance. I hope so- even if just for fun!

I will also do a givaway of some Faber-Castell & Prima Products -

I will choose a couple of winners on Thursday from someone who leaves me a comment

and is a follower of  my blog!!!

So here are the blogs if you are doing the blog hop!

Prima Marketing Blog: www.prima.typepad.com/prima

Sharon Laakkonen: http://sharonlaakkonen.blogspot.com/ 

Heidi Kelley: http://seesterk.blogspot.com/

Marie-Nicolas ALLIOT http://ma-ni.creation.over-blog.com

Maiko Kosugi http://maimaipiano.blogspot.jp/

Stacey Young: www.staceyeyoung.blogspot.com

Emeline Seet : scrapvilla.blogspot.com

Leslie Ashe: www.leslieashe.blogspot.com

Jamie Dougherty: http://www.jaylynnscraps.com

Anna-Marie Mondro: http://annamarie-mondro.blogspot.com/

Anna-Maria Wolniak : http://annamariawolniak.wordpress.com/

Anna Dabrowska: http://tworzysko.blogspot.com

Cari Fennell: http://meandmymaryjanes.blogspot.com/

Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Blog: http://designmemorycraft.typepad.com/design-memory-craft/

      Jill Foster: http://stampinginspiredby.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Matott: http://arttalk-sigmagirl.blogspot.com/

Rita Barakat: http://letsembellish.blogspot.com/  YOU ARE HERE! :)

Mou Saha: http://collagecollagecollage.blogspot.com/

Tiffany Johnson: http://iheartartblog.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mothers Day!

Hey there bloggers Rita Barakat here and todays Mothers day post

(well the pictures and planning) is actually brought to you my dear hubby Chris Barakat.

If you have elementary kids in school you have probably been hit up for money 

recently for Mothers day presents and such. Even the schools have gotten in the 

act using shopping at school for fundraisers - I understand that they need to do fundraisers 

but it frustrates me because I would much rather would have something personal 

(besides my kids don't know how to shop, I don't need a stuffed pet monkey or baseball LOL!)

 What happened to that days when we made our moms homemade gifts? So I put hubby on the job!

 They pulled out my Faber-Castell products and some papers hubby cut to size 

(he DOES know how to use my tools!! But he doesn't scrapbook.) And let the kids get to work!

Hubby even got in the act, I wonder if that's for me or his mom? 

I wonder which kid took this pic? Not bad.

The caddy is perfect for this type of project!

And  there you have it - easy made Mothers day!

Hope yours is wonderful!

Changes...

Hey hey bloggers Ria!!!
 OK today I am showing you three pictures of the same project 

because I want to you see it from different angles! 

Working with acrylic gives you beautiful results
but sometimes it is hard to photograph!
What looks like a mirror above is actually

the reflection of the sky on the acrylic!!!!

At a different angle you can see my door in the background.

The acrylic XL Deco acrylic piece as a base is from Clear Scraps.
I used a Prima stencil and Gelatos to get that look in the center!

If you wanted to you could add paper behind it, but I like to see some of the clear show through.

 Another look!

"Go to" cards

Hey there bloggers!

Today I have a quick tip on cards.

 I don't make a ton of cards but when I do, most of the time, you wont see sentiments on them.

Why? You ask? I am so glad you asked that question!

Because I need "go to" cards!

A card that can fit any situation in a  pinch!

If I need a card I find one to match the recipients personality,

                             add an appropriate sentiment and personal note and I can have it

ready in a snap- perfect and prsonal made just for them!

These cards were made for just such an occasion!

These polka dots were made
with the background basics 2 stamp from The Rubber Cafe.

They were stamped & heat embossed on textured black cardstock,
then I colored over them with metallic Gelatos (you didn't think I was going to
make a card with out Gelatos did you?)
I spread the color with a wet paint brush and the embossed sections acted like a resist.

I cut it up and mounted it onto the actual card - easy!

Do you make any "go to" cards?

supplies:

background basics 2 stamps

Gelatos

cardstock

Scrap Happy Glue

circle punch

Manic Mondays:Operation Clean Up Continued 8

Hey there bloggers. The organization continues...Here is wall number 2.

I just realized I didn't number the cabinets or drawers  but I will still try to give you the details.

From left to right - on the top has plastic containers full of papers and embellies by manufacturer.

I don't  like the way it looks but it is effective - I have tried several different ways  and  always come
back to these because they work. In the blue shelves are all my mists. Next , in my printers tray
I have alcohol inks, Paint daubbers, distress stains, glitter, flocks.

I moved my Tonic cutter over here. (LOVE this cutter - seriously.)

My Cricut, Epic Six and the plastic containers on this side of

the room house my current DT products.

(Again - ugly but it works. Maybe I will paint the wood black...

It wont help the plastic containers though...)

I still need to purchase cabinet handles.

 Drawer #1 (from right to left) house all my tapes - mostly Love My Tapes of course!

 hmm I didn't notice this pic came out on the wrong side. Anyways this is the 

cabinet underneath the tapes. All my card stock if filed by color not manufacturer.
It pulls out on a track.

 Drawer #2 Stickles, Exacto knives and battery re charger. 

 Underneath are tiny embellishments, cutting stencils...

 You have probably seen one of these before but just in case here is the outside...

 Here is the inside - brads, buttons, eyelets arranged by color.

Drawer #3 Misc Pens, Pencils, misc. 

 Cabinet underneath albums in progress.

 Drawer #5 yep - there it is, the Tim Holtz drawer!

 Cabinet underneath - empty albums. 

 Drawer #6 Masks! I tried to everything in sections- this drawer is under the counter where 

my mists are. I also have a glass cutting board that I use for inking or misting- easy clean up. 

 Underneath that drawer are stamps and inks. It looks clean but I am afraid what 

lurks underneath is MAYHEM! The dreaded stamp storage dilemma...

Terribly unorganized, I am still looking for a better solution.

 The mists.

 Printers Tray.

 Ugly and plastic...gotta work on this, it's an eyesore but effective.

 Drawer #6 full of inks and daubers is actually on the next wall,
but right in the corner with the masks drawer.

 On the other side drawer #7 house my Shimmerz, Viva Pearl  pens and other misc. paints.

 Underneath are my acrylic paints, arranged by color. 

 And lastly my notebooks, hmm...it's a good thing I am doing this

I forgot about this cabinet, these really don't need to go in here. 

Definitely a place I can purge- I only need one of these binders for DT contracts and 

hard copies of my classes. I can put it in with the albums I am working
on and empty this entire cabinet...Maybe next week I will figure it out and revealed this wall finished.
***

Thanks for all your comments ans encouragement.
I am determined to finish this before the kids get out of school!

Whenever I have gotten stuck I worked on another part of the house,
watching a little "Clean House" has helped! LOL!
I may show you some of those pics when my scrapbook room is done!