BeYOUtiful

Hi friends! Hope you've had a fabulous week since the last time I posted! We had a fun time with friends and family and in little pockets of time throughout the week I worked on a mixed media canvas. I have huge list of projects I want to create, but until now haven't had the freedom to work on them. One thing I can see myself doing a lot is making canvases. I love the texture, the process and that feeling of creating something out of nothing.  I was super excited to see that Tiffany had a new workshop, so ordered it up and couldn't wait to get started when it went live. Layer by layer, I had so much fun and learned a lot from her video, mostly that patience is the key. These canvases aren't built in a day.  LOL

I'll keep the how to as simple as a link to Tiffany's Dream Big workshop, which is still at the intro price through 7/15. I stayed pretty true to her design, branching out with a few of my own details and swapping out a couple colors and products. I particularly liked the combination I came up with on the metal pieces of chocolate impasto paint dry brushed with a blue/gold opal magic paint from Finnabair. It really gives a gilded glow to the canvas.  It was a super fun project, and I was so excited that the little wood chip piece I used for my title is the same as a fabulous little glass jar and coffee mug I just bought for when I revamp my studio. Kellan had such a chuckle when he got the be YOU tiful meaning, it just makes me smile. Can't wait to hang this piece. The canvas is about 12" wide.

One of my favorite elements are the stitched squares and rectangles, which I created by taping a couple stitched dies together to cut a frame from chipboard and then layering three chipboard frames together and embossing with white embossing powder. I made a bunch all at once and know I'll be adding these to some of my future projects.

I just finished reading Legendary this weekend, the second book in the Caraval series and the wings and clock elements of this piece really meshed with the reading. I really enjoyed both books and would recommend them.

How about you? What have you been up to?  Crafting, reading, working, vacationing, shopping ... would love to hear what's going on in your world.

In Christ Alone

Hi friends! I'm popping in with a little card I made over the weekend. I purchased a few digital sets from Graciellie Design during their birthday sale a few weeks back and was excited to finally get a chance to play. This sentiment had me signing words of comfort as I put the final touches on finishing up closing out the Verve shop.

For this card I flipped the image in Photoshop so the flower was facing the opposite direction, then resized and printed the flower and sentiment on Canson Smooth Bristol paper. The flower image is watercolored with Arteza real brush pens and a water brush, and I flicked on some extra light tan splatters for both the sentiment and the flower image.  These are cut with pierced square dies and lightly sponged with antique linen distress ink.

For the background, I blended peacock feathers distress ink with the Woven stencil by Prima on cool pool cardstock. I love the soft look.  I finished with a bit of crumb cake seam binding and a crumb cake 4.5" square card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. We've got a fun family barbecue we're planning for the 4th, so the boys will be helping me prepare this week. Hopefully I'll have some time to sneak into my stamp room here and there!

Have a wonderful start to you week.

Enabler's List (most links are Amazon affiliate links)
Stamps: In Christ Alone digi (Graciellie Designs)
Paper: cool pool (Fun Stamper's Journey), crumb cake (SU!), smooth bristol (Canson)
Ink: peacock feathers distress oxide, antique linen distress (Ranger), real brush pens (Arteza), laser printer
Accessories: pierced squares dies (Cottage Cutz), Woven stencil (Prima), crumb cake seam binding (SU!), watercolor brush pen (Prima)