Just Let It Dry....

Okay, so one of the things that I love about mixed media art is that there really aren't many rules. In fact, there's only one: LET IT DRY! For those of us who don't count patience among our virtues, this can be the hardest rule to follow. But OH THE PAIN when we break it!

I'm working on a little piece of subway art for a friend's daughter's birthday. I ran out and got some fabulous Hazel & Ruby stencils and went to work.

Step 1: cover the canvas with Mod Podge and gorgeous paper. 

Step 2: LET IT DRY. 

Step 3: one more coat of Mod Podge. 

Step 4: LET IT DRY. 

Step 5: Set your stencils. 

Step 6: Cover with paint. 

Step 7: Remove stencils

Step 8: LET IT DRY! 

Step 9: Seal with Mod Podge. 

Step 10: LET IT DRY!

Yeah. I went from Step One to Step 3. It didn't work. My soggy paper ripped and was just generally a mess. So I thought, hey, I'll just remove and recover. The outcome:

ARGH! So at the end of it all, I started over. I'm writing this while Step Two is taking place. The other canvas has been placed on the "upcycle"/"repurpose" shelf. (I never throw canvases away.) And now I'm humming a little ditty a friend of mine wrote and set to the Beatles' "Let It Be..."

All together now:

Let it dry!

Let it dry!
Let it dry!
Yeah, let it dry!

Work on something else, and 

Let it dry!

It's All About Gratitude

Hi All! Happy Friday! It's time to answer another Rose Blossom Garden Challenge. Don't you just love going into the weekend with a little crafty inspiration? This months' challenge is all about Thanksgiving. Lately I've been pondering a little quote I read that says, "Gratitude makes what we have enough." Wow! That's been pretty convicting for me! Thinking about Thanksgiving, then, I wanted to do something that would be a reminder of that powerful little truth. Here's what I came up with:

For this project, I started with an unfinished wooden 12x12 inch tray that I picked up at my local craft store. I layered it with various paints and finishes to give it a distressed look. I then used Mod Podge to cover the bottom of the tray with fabric from Close To My Heart's Sarita textiles collection.  Using the Artbooking cartridge, I cut out the overlay on the "b" key from Kraft Cardstock. (I used the recommended measurement of 11 inches.) The overlay has a nice area for journaling on the right side if you're using this for a scrapbook layout. However, I wanted a lighter look, so I cut around the tree on the right side so that the background would show through, like so:

Using the negatives from the overlay cutout for templates, I cut various leaves and the tree trunk from the Sarita paper pack and did some paper piecing to add interest. I then cut "Gratitude" and "Enough" at 1 3/4 inches using Artbooking. I used both Colonial White cardstock and Sarita for the letters, and inked the edges with Goldrush Exclusive ink. The "makes what we have" phrase is stamped in Stāz-On Opaque White ink using the retired "You Are My Happy" alphabet. Since I was putting several layers of Mod Podge over everything, I wanted to make sure the white ink wouldn't fade or run. Stāz-On plays well with Mod Podge.  "Gratitude" got lost in the tree, so to make it pop, I backed it with Burlap ribbon and added some copper brads for interest. (Love mixing all the different textures!)

I decided that the edges needed something more, so I added a strip of scalloped Goldrush cardstock to the top. The little flower in the middle is cut from Burlap ribbon, bronze glitter paper (which matches the Bronze Shimmer Trim at the bottom), Sarita fabric and a button from the Rosewood mini medley collection.

For the bottom, I pleated a piece of Sarita fabric and then added the Bronze Shimmer Trim to give it a finished look.

Finally, I added antiqued copper studs (also from the Rosewood collection) in each corner for a little extra texture.

And there you have it! My little gratitude reminder. For more inspiration, be sure to go see what my fellow design team members have created in the Rose Blossom Garden. 

Happiness is... a Kraft-y Hearts Blog Share

Hi All! Welcome to Day 3 of the Kraft-y Hearts Blog Share. This month we're sharing some Floral Happiness with you, and happy it is! Today's project is a little reminder:

I happened to be at Brave Girls Camp last week and was reminded again that while we can't always control our circumstances, we can always choose our attitudes toward them. Since I can have an amazingly short memory, I thought I'd just make myself a little reminder to hang on my wall. 

I covered a piece of heavy-duty chipboard with scraps of paper from the Claire and Surf's Up paper packs and coated them with Mod Podge to make sure they were nice and adhered. After letting the Mod Podge dry (an extremely important step that can't be skipped or rushed, I promise), I toned the papers down a little by sponging them with White Daisy Exclusive Ink and then inked around the edges with Smoothie Exclusive Ink. I then inked up and fussy cut a bunch of small and medium roses from the Floral Happiness stamp set in a variety of colors: Sunset, Outdoor Denim, Smoothie, Crème Brulee, Hollyhock, and White Daisy Exclusive Inks. I set the roses aside and worked on the sentiment. I layered Sky Cardstock with Claire patterned paper and White Daisy Cardstock. "a" and "CHOICE" are stamped in Sunset Exclusive Ink using the Trinity and Urban Alphabet stamps respectively. "DAILY" is stamped in Sky Exclusive Ink using the Classmate Alphabet [ret.] stamp set.   I stamped "Happiness is..." in Sunset Exclusive Ink on White Daisy Cardstock and used a corner rounder to shape it. I popped that up on a background of Claire paper and then popped the whole thing up using dimensional adhesive. For a little extra flair, I added some Sky bling and bitty sparkles along the edges of both sentiments. I then arranged the roses along the bottom, popping up the last three with dimensional adhesive. 

For the hanger, I used some retired CTMH hardware, light blue and natural jute string from my stash and a Filigree Charm. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of it hanging on the wall, but you can see a little of the hanger in the close-ups below.

Speaking of which....

I hope you enjoyed the Kraft-y Hearts March Stamp Of The Month blog share. Don't forget to hop over and see what Lynn Darda (a.k.a. Queen of Kraft) has for you at From My Bungalow. And, as always,  Floral Happiness can be yours for $5 with any qualifying order of $50 or more, or you can purchase it on its own for $17.95. It is available through 31 March. 

Have a fantastic weekend, and remember: Happiness is.... a daily choice!