Watercolors (again)

Here I am again with those damn watercolors. It's funny but I love playing with them and then half way through I think gosh this is terrible, why am I doing this and just keep painting and playing. Sometimes I don't like what I create and toss it and then there are days like these where I think gosh this is really pretty good.

 

When I see this card I think of my mother and since her birthday is in the fall I have plenty of time to give it to her, I am pretty sure she'll like it.

 

 

Disney Project Life

Well if you haven't heard the depressing news by now, let me express to you how sadden I am to tell you Two Peas In a Bucket is closing. Final day is Thursday, July 11th. I have to believe this devastating news effected hundreds if not thousand of scrapbookers. I was a member for 10 years and I know I will miss all the comrade established through the years.

In the whirlwind of shock, many places are trying to help the refugees by establishing new boards or simply welcoming us displaced scrappers with open arms. I do not know all of these places but here are a few.

2peasrefugees
splitcoaststampers
scrapbook.com
feedyourcraft.

I am sure there are more but these are the ones besides other online stores that are great places to be.

So without further ado here are some project life pages for my Disney album. I have decided it's easy to put pictures in but much more harder to embellish and dress the extra pocket pieces. I think in some ways just making a layout is easier, but then I think how many pictures can you do on one layout and I go back to my pocket pages.

Fresh Flower Card

Ever since I took my watercolor class I have been enamored with the many techniques demonstrated.

During these demonstrations, I noticed many of the instructors were using Clearly Besotted Stamps. Smitten, I began my hunt to purchase some because they really are watercolor friendly which I have noticed not all stamps are.

My hunting paid off and I was able to purchase a few sets, one of these included the Fresh Flower stamp set which I finally have in my hot little hands so I ventured thusly back into the world of watercolors.

Altered Wooden Serving Tray

Did I ever mention I horde stuff, like everything?!? Well here is a perfect example. I bought a tray with a plastic top thinking I would alter it for my mother as a serving tray. Purchased this tray about 12 years ago, never did anything with it, until now.

It originally was white, but like most items you buy it needed some touch up painting so it was misted with some nice bright white satin paint. Then my dh was so kind and he drilled a few holes and glued in some eye hooks to wrap my wires around.

I found a stash of photos on a laptop that my mother gave me of pictures that her parents had. Apparently they scanned them in..nice! Score for me.

Looking at my empty spot on my wall I knew I could finally use that tray and some of the photos would find a home for me to enjoy them.

I purchased some white lace that I hot glued into place and added a second layer of ruffled yellow ribbon. The gold wire I had on hand from years and years ago (so glad to use this stuff I hang on to) and bought a pack of tiny clothespins.

Have to say I was hoping to do more with the pictures but figured it would mean less photos for me to enjoy.

I added some paper flowers; some misted with yellow, some already yellow and punched a bunch of leaves then hot glued that into one big tidy sum of flowers.

And here you have it.

Uncles are Superheroes in Disguise

Made this layout to showcase on Scrapyland's Blog pictures of my youngest son and youngest grandson. It always brings me joy to see my son play with his nephews. He's like a little kid all over again.

Love life

Here is another card I made for Scrapyland, using this playful stamp by Little Darlings called Jump. I must say when I first saw this stamp I was immediately drawn to it because it just exhibits how life should be, carefree and fun plus I have a print (see below) that I love that the stamp reminded me of so I knew it was destined for me.

I heat embossed the stamp, painted with watercolor crayons and finished it with some diecuts.

Project Life - Houdini Pages

So it's been a long while since I have been able to get to any of my Project Life albums. Perhaps having 3 books is too much, especially since I am forgetting to take any recent pictures. Too much living in the moment I think so have to remember to bring the camera with me when my kitty beckons to play.

These photos are all the way back in March although it's only been about 2 months hopefully that doesn't sound near as bad.

Mixed Media Hello card

This is another card I made for Scrapyland using some mixed media (mostly just embossing paste mixed with paint and some misting.)

 

I really like the look of mixed media and am slowly making my way into trying a few things. For right now I just stayed in my comfort zone using the embossing paste and sprays but have a small canvas I have been using for my play area with different items.

 

And I will have you know I really am against these 3-D cards or ones that have banners sticking off them because I just feel you should be able to put your card into a envelope but obviously this one will be a bit thick with that flower. I had to go step over my do not do line because I accidently misted the flower for another project before I realized the color was orange and not yellow..and I hate to waste product so felt the need to use it and was working on this card so kind of just went with it.

 

So in cases like this it's nice to be able to leave it on someone's desk at work for a nice surprise even if I can't stuff it into an envelope.

 

 

Clean and Simple Hello Card

Here is a quick little card I made for Scrapyland using the Avery Hello Die, some older K&Co epoxy hearts and MME Amy Tangerine pp for the background of the die.

 

I am usually afraid of white space but I think in this case it kind of works. I had seem some cards using the cut out with background pp and wanted to try it. I really do like the effect.

 

 

Highlights from San Diego Trip

So nothing scrappy to share today but thought I would post instead some photos from my trip down to San Diego.

We did the usual touristy things like Sea World, San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. Being from Northern California and 30 minutes to the beaches, we didn't feel the need to see those although we did stay at the Del Coronado for two nights and enjoyed  being on the beach.

So without further ado here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Disneyland - Magic Lives Here

I confess I {heart} Disney, I am not sure why but I think it's because Walt did such a wonderful job making you feel like you've left home and came to a whole other dimension in time. So many magical touches everywhere you look, so many Disney details to stage the magic and lets face it you just feel like a kid again.

 

I also confess I hate crowds and standing in line so I go when there is as little crowds as possible even if that means going during the week or non-tourist peak times.

 

For this layout I didn't bother journaling it just didn't seem like anything really needed to be said.

 

Disney - DCA

Am sharing another layout of Disney, this time it's Disney California. I think just about everyone who's ever been to DCA definitely has one of these infamous shots with the Mickey Wheel in the background.

 

I decided to use the photo pass to get a photo of both dh and I. It seems the older I get the more important I realize capturing us or even me in the photos is since I am the picture taker in the family and would hate for people to look back and wonder why there are no  photos of myself. So even though I might not like how I look I take them anyways and use them in layouts. One day I will look back and wish I still looked like this.

 

Gift Bag

If you are reading my blog today I should let you know that I am in San Diego, enjoying some much needed R&R with my dh playing tourist and hopefully enjoying some beautiful sunshine. And today is my 24th wedding anniversary!

For today's post I made this fun little gift bag for Scrapyland using some much older pp scraps (always good to use those up). Dynamics Cloud dies, Memory box Hot Air balloon, Spellbinders Label die and a QK scallop circle die. I adorned it with a puffy heart and added in some ribbon.