flutter...

hello, bloggerland.  it's been a while.  had knee surgery last week and trying to recoup from that.  but even though i haven't been able to craft yet, i realized i have projects i need to blog about!  so here is a set of atcs for a mixed media swap.   i used some awesome tissue paper that came in an order from the brave girls club.  that melody ross is amazing!!  now more than ever i need to remember to be a brave girl!

the process for the atcs was this:  first i gessoed the background; then mod podged the tissue paper; third added some layers of stamps (it's no secret for my love of unity stamps); then i sealed the deal with mod podge acrylic sealer--my new fave!  thanks for taking a peek!!

live, love
stamps:  unity
cardstock: kraft
ink: ripe persimmon, shabby shutters, seedless preserves, tumbled glass
other:  tissue paper, acrylic paint, mod podge

beautiful girl...

i can't believe it.  it's june 8 and i am way ahead of the june creative dare deadline.  usually i'm finishing the night before!  i skipped may entirely.  so i'm pretty happy to be done with june.  if you aren't familiar with the creative dare, here's a little info.  tracy weinzapfel does a live show each monday, mixed media monday.  if you haven't joined on a monday night, you should.  it's a riot.  and she makes awesome projects.  each month, she puts out a creative dare.  it gets you thinking way outside the box (and your comfort zone sometimes!).  it's very good for me. here is a link to the creative dare for june.  we had to incorporate powerful truths, or things that you just sort of need to remember all the time.

i chose one of the daily truth emails from brave girls club.  i used the email as the background, then selected a few thoughts that i need to remember. i even went straight to canvas with this so i can hang it up in my room and see it all the time.

beautiful girl
stamps: donna downey
ink: jet black, island indigo
other:  acrylic paint,  gesso, india ink, decopage
font:  fzm old typewriter

here is a link to the original post from the brave girls daily truth email. the background says:

Dear Beautiful Girl,

You have plenty of time to figure it out. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Remember that most of us are alive for nearly 100 years, and in those 100 years we will have lots and lots of opportunities to get things right. It is never too late, and you can start over again every single day, for the rest of your life if that's what it takes.In the years of our life, we can count on the fact that we will continuously fall on our faces, make mistakes and take the wrong paths sometimes. We just will . . . all of us. It's part of the deal.

You are absolutely spectacular, no matter what your mistakes have been, no matter how many times you have had to start over, and no matter how many lessons it takes for you to learn valuable things. You are just an awesome student of life. You are the fun one! You are the one the teacher makes the lessons for in the first place!

So sweet friend, cut yourself some slack. Do better tomorrow. Count the victories you HAVE had. Look how far you have come, and especially, look deep into that pure and beautiful heart of yours and see that THAT is who you are. You are not your mistakes or your wrong turns or the weaknesses that you are STILL working on overcoming. That is your human part. You are the BIG BEAUTIFUL spirit part, the one who keeps trying, every day.

So keep it up. Kiss yourself in the mirror and tell your cute self that you are doing just fine.

So much love. . .
xoxo

truth cards...

have you ever heard of the brave girls club?  well if you haven't, you should check it out.  i first stumbled upon it a few years ago when i was looking around the web one night.  i visited some pages, read some things, thought it was "cutesy" and kind of moved past it, not thinking much of it.  then one day a few months later, i was having a sort of rotten day (was probably after a crappy day at work...) and i stumbled across one of the brave girl pictures.  you know the ones...super soul lifting inspiration?  and i decided i should check it out again.  i signed up for the "little bird told me..." daily truth emails and i've been addicted ever since.  it would be a dream to go to brave girls camp sometime, but don't know if i can justify the expense.  maybe one day...

so the brave girls are at it again.  with this campaign of helping brave girls in need from all over the globe.  and they are giving anyone who wants to help out the chance to make brave girl truth cards.  i can't explain it very well, so please just check it out here...  i grabbed a few supplies the other night and got busy creating.  this is what i ended up with.  i only did a few, but i think it's going to be just the beginning.  i'm challenging myself to make a small set each week.  part of my one little word for 2013.  believe i can make a small difference.

truth cards
materials: acrylic paint, gesso, chipboard
embellishments:  washi tape, cardboard, bubble wrap
words:  truth card kit

tiny book...

i did it again.  joined a swap that was so outside my comfort zone.  and after i got over the initial drama of dreading it, i actually loved it.  one of my favorite swaps, i dare say, ever!!  it was a one on one swap, so we got a name of the person we were going to send our project to.  the thing we had to do was make a tiny book.  there were only a few rules.  one-had to be tiny.  less than 3 inches.  two-had to have six pages.  three-had to have stamping on it somewhere.  seemed easy enough.  right?  no way.  i thought about it forever!  (ok, not forever, but a while...)  and i finally quit thinking so much and just started making it.  then it just sort of ended up being finished.  and i think it turned out pretty good.  i love the colors.  and i have a good idea that the recipient (who i can't say yet!) will love it, too.  at least i hope she will.

it's friday ('bout time!)  so don't forget to visit the unity blog.  a lot of great projects to look at and you may have a chance to win some unity goodness!!   so go see what the friends with flair peeps have going on!

notes to self
stamps: ippity, unity, melody ross, iron orchid designs, brave girls club, simple stories, authentique, jillibean soup, marah johnson
cardstock: my mind's eye pp, echo park pp
ink: peeled paint distress, seedless preserves distress, early espresso, crumb cake
embellishments: ribbon

(click on each picture for a larger view)

ps if you are julia (who won a prize from this post) please email me to get your prize!!