So Good

I thought with Easter just around the corner, a little bunny would be fun to add to my art journal. I used, water color pencils, and black markers. The weather was just beautiful on the day I did this, and how could we not feel so great after the long winter we have had in Indiana this year. Since we had a record breaking snow year... I am hoping we have a record breaking beautiful days year too! This was fun to do, and I hope you take the time to create a page that tells about your day.

Remember the Days Blessings

Here is another painted canvas that I put in my little store at Gilley's in Plainfield. The canvas art is $10.25 each, and if you are interested in one, just let me know, or stop by Gilley's and pick one up.

ATC share

Look at this beautiful ATC I received in a swap. Carol made this and used napkins. She mod podged layers of the napkins onto the card stock. I just think it is so beautiful, and love the napkin to. Speaking of ATC's, a swap is coming up for April. The theme is "So Stink'in Cute". Hope you will join in. Just make four and get them to me by the end of the month. Super fun little works of art.

Poppies

Now these poppies turned out cute and clean and I like them. I love the shading on my watering can too. This was a fun page to complete. And I didn't wear one bit of mess on me. Hope you enjoy the share and are inspired to create a pot of poppies in your journal.

Life would be flat

This is a gift for Candace's music teacher.... kinda great don't ya think. This is a true oh my gosh what am gonna do with this mess creation!

I started out by painting some poppies... well you can see the remits of the red and green paint in the back ground... they turned out like well..... lets not talk about what they turned out like. I think I am better with a pencil then a paint brush.

I covered that mess up with gesso... well that left bumps in the canvas because of the first mess....

So I covered it with a layer of torn double sided designer series paper and did a light layer of gesso over that. Well it was to wet and my paint brush was pulling the paper up... oh my gosh it almost went in to the trash.

But I thought to myself, SELF, what would Cindi Estes do? She is the queen of multi media layer art. So I laied down my paint brush and rubbed that curling lifting paper till I had even a bigger mess on my hands, fingers, clothe,s work station, hair.... well all it did was pull the front layer of the double sided designer paper up, and left the other side so the back ground words are back-wards! Good grief! By the way when did the word good and the word grief go together? It is such an oxy-moron!

Ok, so I let that mess dry and went and cleaned myself up a bit. Came back to it determined to get something worth while out of the mess I made. I used a stenciled and sponged some ink on it, THEN got the stupid sponge to wet and sponged more paint, (watery paint) over the stencil and now it looks like spilled coffee grounds... well at this point it was just perfect.... A PERFECT MESS!

I let it dry and thought come up with a simple saying, so I painted the little greeting, thanks pintrest, and got out my Stampin Up Music wheel, wheeled in Staz-On Black Ink a bit of music notes. I almost stamped my Amazing Grace music sheet stamp on it, as I was given some AMAZING GRACE getting this project completed!

So what a lesson... Without Music (or my mess) life would be flat and I wouldn't have experienced the grace it took to complete this one. I think I like less messier, less complicated projects. Will I make another one... Not on your or my life! I will paint or pencil another... but I don't think I will to this messy again.... ha ya, open mouth insert foot... stay tuned and see what happens next in the Stamp Pad messy adventure!

Build a Burger

I recently shared this on FB... ya I activated mine again. I have mixed feelings about it. But anyway I did it for my business. You can join my page to see what trouble I create there! Just look me up: Debs Stamp Pad.

Ok on to the Cheese Burger. At recipe club this month I shared my Cheese Burger Soup and Cheese Burger Flat Bread recipes. (Papa John's ain't got nothing on me and Cheese Burgers!) And we used this adorable Cheese Burger in the layouts.

So you will need from the bottom of the picture working to the top, using card stock:
2- lg oval crumb cake punch, dauber with brown ink for the bun top and bottom.
1- chocolate chip lg oval punch for the burger meat
1- scallop oval in garden green for the lettuces
2- 1/2" real red circles for the tomato's
2- 1/2" daffodil squares for the American cheese slices
2- 1/4" old olive circles, for the pickles. Run the old olive card stock through a paper crimper first, then punch the pickles out! So stink'in cute right!?! I like how the pickles came out.
I don't like onions on my burgers, but you could do some circles with the center punched out in white and add some onions on it.

So are ya hungry now? Go make some Burgers!

Remember

I love painting vine hearts, they are so easy and quick and fun and forgiving. This is a nice verse too, it make any ones day a bit better...just remember the days blessings. Sometimes they are hard to see, but for most of us, we got out of bed this morning and went about our day doing what we do. There are some who may not be able to get out of bed or do anything... so remember the days blessings, no matter how little they are.

Sing and Dance

I used an inspiration piece from pintrest to create this page. This is girl just makes me smile. I love happy pages and this is one of them for me. It also is me coasting spring weather along, to get here quicker. Very simple shapes to create a super cute page. For the words I tried something a little different. After writing them using a #2 micron pen, I then shadowed with a charcoal pencil and stump and then I highlighted using a white gel pen. I am happy with the out come. And it is about spaced and lined up centered straight and all that too.... I really think I just got lucky with that! ahaha. Hope you are enjoying the art work shared.

Celebrate

Celebrate a dude's birthday. This is done on crumb cake card stock and using the new starburst framelets and stamp set..... oh are they fun. They are not going to around for much longer. So be sure to check them out and get them while the getting is good... and get a free gift to boot!
Click on any of the items to take you to the order page to add this and more to your collection.

Starburst Sayings Wood-Mount Bundle	134817
Price: $44.95
Oh, happy day! This stamp set is a burst of sunshine with several diverse sentiments, perfect for a variety of projects! And the Starburst Framelits Dies make cutting the Starburst Sayings images quick and easy. Buy the Starburst Sayings wood-mount stamp set and coordinating Starburst Framelits Dies together at a 15% discount.

Starburst Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle 134818 Price: $38.95 Oh, happy day! This stamp set is a burst of sunshine with several diverse sentiments, perfect for a variety of projects! And the Starburst Framelits Dies make cutting the Starburst Sayings images quick and easy. Buy the Starburst Sayings clear-mount stamp set and coordinating Starburst Framelits Dies together at a 15% discount. You do not have to get them in the bundle, but you save some cash for other things if you do. This is a fun shape to just cut out of designer paper and used as filler pieces and in layering.

Few have Died!

This so goes in my kitchen! hahah - wanna come for dinner! Maybe not after seeing this in there. Here is another canvas with a little funny. These are 8x10 and thin enough to go in frames if you want, or I made hangers for the backs if you do not want it framed. Cost is $10.25. I will take special orders for this one too if ya are wanting one to give as a gift or hang in your own kitchen. I will have it in the Gilley's store too.

Come On Spring

We might see spring sometime this year! I was hoping that my creating this page it would bring it on a little sooner. I used all my favorite tools, watercolor pencils, black markers, glitter pen... but I added some prima flowers and gems.

Cake

 I baked! Wow! I k now it seems like forever since I have shared a recipe with you. I got this one from a new stamping friend Penny. She had made it for card club - everyone raved about it. It is really really good, moist and oh a tad addicting. I used my Demarle bundt cake mold.

 It was the perfect green cake for St. Patty's Day.

 Yummy chocolate chips inside too.

So you want some? 

Pistachio Cake by Penny M.
1 white cake mix
5 eggs
1/2 C Milk
1/2 C Water
1/2 C Oil
1 C mini Chocolate Chips ( I didn't have mini ones on hand, so I chopped up regular ones and it turned out great).
2 small boxes of instant Pistachio Pudding. (I only had one box of this on hand too, so I used one vanilla pudding and one Pistachio pudding. It still turned out great, not as green in color as Penny's, but still good.
Blend everything together.

Grease and flour bundt pan, you don't have to do this step using a Demarle Pan!

Bake 350 degrees for 55 minutes, or until done. In the Demarle pan I baked at 340 degrees for not quite 55 minutes. Also the Demarle will not hold all of the cake mix so I also got 9 cup cakes out of it mix and sent those to class with my daughter. Ya I was the hero of the day with her classmates and teacher!

Glaze: Powder sugar, milk, coloring and vanilla. I use melted butter in place of the milk... oh does it make for a really nice rich buttery glaze. Just mix in a little butter or milk till you have the consistency you want for drizzling over the cake.
 
Now I got to thinking after making this, that I bet you could use any flavor pudding mix to come up with different flavors. Richer Chocolate, or Butterscotch with caramel glaze. And what a nice cake consistency it makes too. Very moist and the chocolate chips make it even more yummier! You could color the glaze according to holidays too.

Thanks Penny for this yummy recipe. I have added it to my book of favorites.

Flowers in the Window

As most of you know I love flowers. I love cards with flowers. This is a super fun one too. Using a black marker to color the lines on the stamp I just colored in 3 of the 5 flowers and vases on this great new stamp. Stamping it on white card stock and then punching it out using the large circle punch. I punched the large scallop circle punch on the front of the card, and glued the white circle on the inside of the card so it would show through the window. I colored in the flowers and vases using stampin writers and highlighted a bit with a white gel pen. Pretty huh! Hope you are inspired to create a window card.
You can get the goods by clicking on any of the items and it will take you right to the page to order.

			Vivid Vases 133818 Price: $11.95 There's a whole lot of wonderful in this assortment of flowers and vases. Includes 1 wood stamp

A Pure Heart

Since I had my paint brushes out and all the fun mess, I thought I would use up some of the canvas's I received as a gift. I plan to put these in my little booth at Gilly's Craft Mall in Plainfield. Check out the store - it is a fun place to spend a few hours looking for treasures. The craft spot is at the far west end of the building.... ask if you don't see the signs to get you there.

2B Wonderful

I love this verse. I love this page. I love the colors. I have a lot of loves! Geez! The verse came from a Stampin Up stamp... awesome huh! I used all the same art tools as I usually do. Watercolor pencils, aqua painter, blender pen and black markers in various sizes.

Butterflies

 I held an art journaling class this past week, and here is Sandy Gretter and Crista Miller with their finished art work. It is so amazing how you give each of them the same pattern and a few directions and they bring art to life in there unique way. We used watercolor pencils, aqua painters, blender pens, black markers, pan pastels and glitter mist. The best part of the night is spending time with the girls!

Wedding Box Card

 My dear friend Rick was married yesterday. I have known Rick since he was a wee squirt! His wedding was in Texas, and just to far for me to go. But I did want to make something special for him and his bride. So using the directions I received from an amazing artist Cindi Estes I created this box card. It is really cool the way it all folds up flat for mailing. I am lov'in it!

I used the wedding invitation and cut it apart and then punched butterflies and used dot designer series paper and gray card stock from Stampin Up for the bases. The printed design card stock was from the back side of the invitation. Pretty don't you agree. Super fun project. I am not going to say this is easy, because it dose take some time. But it isn't all that hard either. I hope to get a video  or a tut put together to share this idea with you in the future. I made an envelope to go with it to, as it was a bit bigger then planned to fit in a regular envelope. But hand made envelops are turning out to be one of my very favorite things to make these days.

Art Journal

This was such a fun design to add to my art journal. I did use a ruler to help with the straight lines. I hand drew the design in using a 2B pencil, colored in using watercolor pencils, then blended with aqua painters and blender pens. The smaller shapes I used the blender pen, and the larger areas i used the aqua painters. Outline with black markers. The blue shadow there is no on the page, I don't know what that is, reflection from the something in the photo. (sorry bout' that). My dear friend Sandy Gretter said this would make a great header for a calendar. You could do one for each month. Hhummmm.... ideas floating around in my head on that great suggestion.

Hearts and Flowers

This adorable card is made using the Sale-A-Bration Set Banner Blast. And it is a FREE right now with any $50 order. You can place your order HERE and add this set. Sale-A-Bration is coming to an end soon, so be sure to get the goods before March 31st.

Painted ipad Cover

 This is my old ipad cover that I haven't been using. I like the stability and strength of it, but don't really like the plain gray boring-ness. So I quit using it and bought a new one that I love the design buy had the flimsy floppy-ness of it. So.... since I had my paint brushes wet yesterday... and idea come to me! Hey do something with that boring ipad cover. And no loss if it didn't turn out, I wasn't using it anyway - right!

 Well here is my new (old) ipad cover all painted up. I love love love it by the way, and have put my ipad back inside.

I used some fabric paint and created a design of a few of my favorite flowers and swirls, curls and a bow. And- Yah I have a new updated, oh my gosh am I happy with it, ipad cover! Whoot Whoot, don't cha just love it when a plan comes together. Never under estimate with a dab of paint will do for your day.

Card Swap Share

This adorable card is by Anita Taylor. She makes the inside of her cards as special as the outside.

New Video

What a new video.... no-way! Oh but, yes-way! I know shocker huh. I really had this recorded some time ago, but hadn't gotten around to getting it edited and uploaded. So since I am up all hours of the night these days, thought it a good time to get to it.  Do hope you enjoy... if for nothing else but a good belly laugh! ha!

If you subscribe to my blog to receive posts in your email, be sure to click over to the blog to view the video. I don't think the video will come in the email, maybe it will.. I really don't know...

Green Ink

 I have been working in my art journal like a mad woman. Well no so mad when I am doing it, it has been a great way to sit with day and keep him company and keep my hands busy... busy hands don't dip in the chip or cookie bag as often! So I tell myself!

 I have been working on improving my writing skills and trying to create a few fonts of my own that have my own personality in it. It really has been fun seeing what I come up with. A great way to practice is on mail. I have been sending out envelops with fancy writing on it... practice for me, and a extra special gift for the receiver too.

Can you tell I like flourishes and swirls of ribbon..... yep really love them. Here is another one of my favorite verses too: 2 Peter 1:3, his divine power had given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by Him over glory and goodness.

Card Swap

Becky Kirkman made this beautiful card. I love the way she uses Stampin Up product and other items together to create beautiful works of art. To get the two toned stamped image, she used Stampin Up writers right on the stamps, then huff, to re-moisten the ink and stamp on the card stock. Just beautiful.

Ah Choo

This funny little card is by Nita Taylor. She has a die punch that she cut out the owl card with, and then she fringe cut the wings and added a tissue. I just love the funny crooked different colored eyes. Some of the cards she made had pink eye. Funny on a card, but not so funny if you really have pink eye. She had also made the envelopes to go with the cute card. So creative! I had to share this with you.
Fringe Scissors... such a cool new tool. Get yours HERE.
s

Fringe Scissors	133325
Price: $9.95
Make fringe trim in seconds without tediously making each individual cut. Cut fringe or grass trim with a few snips. Makes quick work of confetti, too.

Doodling

How about some more art journal doodling. I always start with a light pencil drawing, and then fill in using my watercolor pencils, blend using aqua painters or blender pens from Stampin Up, then outline with a black marker. Simple, fun, and oh so relaxing.

Card Swap

This little beauty is by Bev Masengale. This design would make a beautiful wedding card or welcome baby girl card.

Paisley

Paisleys are pretty easy to draw, it is just a curved tear drop, and then lots of doodling. I also added one of my favorite verses to it. 2 Thess 2:16-17, May the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. That verse lifts my spirit for the day, I hope it dose you too! May your day be filled with blessings.

Card Swap

This pretty card is by Rozella Finch. What a sweet card for such a sweet little lady. She punched out printed flowers using Stampin Up punches from scrapbooking paper. I really like the little ladybug! Great shades of green for the month of March.

He Loves Me

 There is nothing greater then knowing the love of Christ. Pulling petals from a daisy always makes me think of "He Loves Me", and then I stop... why go on to the "he loves me not".  Because that is the simple truth to the love of Jesus. He just loves me, no matter what.

This page inspiration came from the never ending love of Jesus. It warms my heart to see it in my art journal and be reminded of that. Be sure, without a doubt to have your name written in the book of life and then we can be together in heaven when the time comes. I pray that if you do not know the love of Christ that you will pray this little prayer and accept His gift of love.

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I cannot go on living this life without you. Please forgive me of my sins, and come into my life and the Lord over my life and my savor. I ask this is your precious name, Amen.

Salt?

 I spent a little time playing around with a technique using salt! I know sounds weird! And even though I like the finished outcome of the the first three photos, the jury's still out the the bottom two.

 So if you want to try this at home... here is the how to. First on wax paper or an artist cloth, drop a few drips of dye ink in a few shades of color, then mist it with alcohol, then lay your card stock right in the mess. Once your card stock has absorbed some or all of the color, you can smoosh it around a little, or just lift it out of the ink puddle. There is no right or wrong to the smooshing - Just don't smoosh to much or you may end up with mud as a color. While wet, sprinkle on the salt, as much as you want, and then let it dry. You can use a heat gun to speed the drying process up a bit, but you will blow all that salt all over your work area and beyond!

 The top three samples I used a stencil over the salty mess. After the ink was dry I laid a stencil over it. IN the top two pictures I traced with a white gel pen and then colored in the areas. The above picture I inked using gold encore ink pad, then used the gold ink pen to outline the edges. I really like how the top three samples turned out. Now what am I going to do with all that background love????

 Here are a few more examples of just the card stock with the smooshed ink on it and then salted and dried. The brown and greenish sample just below was whipped with a paper towel to give it even more of a mess look.

 I hope you are inspired to try this little technique out. Some days are just a little more messier then others! Warning I wore die ink on my fingers for a few days!