Welcome....

"...at its core....art is simply the language of the soul" -Robert Redford

Thanks for stopping by. Please enjoy your stay here. Have some Sweet Tea, grab a chair and sit a spell. Rekindle your SOUL, Embrace the ART and Believe your DREAMS. Stay as long as you like and come back soon. Friends are always welcome here.

Monday, November 30

25 days of Christmas has begun!!


I am so excited!! Last year I participated in a smaller version of this swap. This year, it is going to be simply amazing. We have 25 gals playing. Each day I will open and then share that day's giftie with you!! I hope you'll enjoy playing along with me each day!! :::Smiles:::

Here are my gifties just waiting to be opened and shared. I think they look delightful in my snowboy crate, don't you?? Come back tomorrow for Day #1. :)

Thursday, November 26

"CHRISTMAS" letters skinny book mingle


This is my first skinny book and I am loving the dimensions (3 x 6). We were to make 9 skinny pages, with each containing one letter of "CHRISTMAS." The hostess will then swap them back out to us and we can bind them as we wish. I knew immediately the background papers I wanted to use from my new DCWV Christmas stack. I just wasn't sure of the image. After several trial and errors I found this great Santa Jumping Jack Puppet pattern.


So, here's the how-to on my pages:

  • I cut the bases from cereal boxes and adhered the papers to the front and edged them with Stazon ink pads.
  • On the back I used glue lines on the edge to stick down the vintage trim.
  • I then adhered the slightly smaller papers to the back, stamped some black swirls and added the "be merry" greeting.
  • After printing and cutting out the Santa puppets I ran them through the Xyron sticker maker. I can't imagine what I would do without that little guy!!
  • I assembled the puppets and added them to the front.
  • I also added some glitter shapes for some sparkle.
  • The letters were cut using my Alphalicious Cart.
  • Before stacking the letters I ran the top stack back through the Xyron so the tops were adhesive as well. I them applied coordinating glitter.
  • Then the letters were adhered to the pages.


I must confess I am very happy with how they turned out. :)

Monday, November 23

Repurposed planners into ART gifties

Finally had a chance to share some new ART gifties. 2 of my Yahoo groups have monthly lotteries where there is a theme. Anything goes that follows the theme. I made 2 repurposed calender/planners. I found them at Dollar Tree.

Here is the original planner.


Here is the Vintage themed Planner. The embellishments are shrink plastic.

Here is the Thankful Themed Planner. I thought it was good to be thankful for another year.

Anywho....just sharing. They make great quick and inexpensive gifts.


Wednesday, November 18

Christmas Row House Swap - Gingerbread style

The next installment of my monthly row houses swaps was to be in the Christmas genre. Hmmmm.....what to do, what to do. Well, I went totally out of my box and went quirky and cute. Wow!! Totally not my usual style!! LOL But I like it!! I have always wanted to make big Gingerbread Houses, baked up fresh, dripping with icing and loaded down with candy. This is the next best thing. I love the peppermint "shingles" and the glittery iced roof (I used 3 kinds of Martha Stewart glitters for the sparkle). Please click the pic to appreciate the glittery roof. It is headed to my friend Diann in NC. Hope she is feeling "SWEET." You can see the previous row houses here and here .

Wednesday, November 11

Altered Hershey Bar




Here's another ART goodie to share. For this swap we were to make an Altered Giant Hershey Bar with a Christmas theme. This is headed to my friend Wanda. I hope she enjoys it!! :)

I removed the original wrapper to use as a template. I cut a replacement from Christmas scrapbook paper and wrapped it around the chocolate bar. I cut out a tag from a coordinating paper featuring a smiling snowman. Punched the tag and tied it up with a ribbon. I added some sparkle with punched glitter snowflakes and added a bit more bling with a glitter gel pen. Easy Peasy yummy giftie.

Friday, November 6

JOY Banner Swag for Christmas



One of the fun mingles I am participating in over at ARTHaven is a "JOY" banner. For mine, I chose 3 coordinating "snow" papers and cut out 4 mittens and 3 snowmen. I backed them with coordinating cardstock and cut them out again. I stamped and embossed the letters with white and framed them with more cardstock. The snowmen are holding their letters with gray fuzzy chenille arms.

I used 5 coordinating fibers and crocheted the swag using a large Q hook. I used 3 Fun Fur, 1 Homespun and 1 Ribbon yarn. For some added bling I added some metallic foil snowflakes on split rings. The snowmen and mittens are attached with silver clothespins (Silver spray paint).





Wednesday, November 4

Make your own Glitter Dots and Shapes Tutorial


I am working on a project for a 25 Days of Christmas swap (I'll be able to share that later on December 9th!!) One of the embellishments I am using are Glitter Dots. It is a very cool and effective embellishment to use on your ART. I learned about them from the book Pretty Little Felts. From there I of course tweaked the idea to make it my own. I not only made Dots but other Shapes as well.

You need to assemble:

  • Fine glitter (I used Martha Stewart antique silver and antique gold
  • Glue (I used Regular Elmer's Glue-all)
  • White cardstock
  • Hole and Shape Punches
  • Old Credit card or stiff piece of card stock
  • Wax Paper (Not pictured)
  • Acrylic Sealer (Optional)
  • Glitter Tray (Optional)


Place your cardstock on a sheet of wax paper; squirt with glue



Spread your cardstock with an even layer of glue using the credit card or the cardboard.


Sprinkle liberally with the glitter(s).
I used each glitter separately and also did one piece that was a blend of the two.


Let dry completely!!

I learned the hard way (by being impatient) that this is an important step. Leave it alone overnight and your glitter will stick much better!!

Tap off the excess glitter.


Now to use them......punch out your glitter dots or shapes and glue to your ART!!

I'm not sure if you can tell or not but the top half of each sheet above was sprayed with the sealer, while the bottom half was left untouched. If you click the pic you can probably see the difference.



Ta-Da.....cheap, quick and easy glittery embellishments!! :::Smiles:::


Now, for the Acrylic Sealer.....all I had handy was matte finish. It did keep the glitter from shedding as much but also dulled it down. Depends on the look you are going for. I'm thinking that gloss sealer might be the best of both worlds. I will try that on the next batch I just made tomorrow when they are dry. I also have a batch currently drying on a copper colored paper to see if I like that better!! :)

I did run them through my Xyron sticker maker and that worked great!!


Glitter disclaimer.....you will have glitter in your hair, guaranteed when you are done with this project!! :::Smiles::: But that makes it a good day, don't you think??

Tuesday, November 3

Iris Fold Christmas Cards - The next batch...

Well, the Christmas Card Creation Train continues plugging along! :) Here are two ornies and two reindeer that I have completed. As you know....I simply adore Iris Folding. I have been looking for a "branch" to hang my ornies on and decided on this piece of scrapbook paper. The ornies are folded with metallic foil origami paper, my personal fave.




I really like this leaping reindeer pattern. I have a set of swirls stamps that I use practically everyday. Turns out they make excellent fancy antlers as well!! Who knew??


Monday, November 2

Iris Fold Christmas Trees - Variations on a theme....

I continue to work on my Christmas Cards.....of course Iris Folding is still my fave technique. Here are 4 Pine trees that used 4 coordinating green papers and similar, yet different layouts and patterns. I like how they turned out. :) I have 4 more apertures ready to go, just need to sit down and do the folding!! Just sharing.....