MMMC #26 - Reach for the Stars

Hello July! I can tell this is going to be one AMAZING month and I'm happy to be kicking it off with The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge and this fun new theme: REACH FOR THE STARS! You really need to visit MMMC to what the design team created... everybody interpreted the theme differently and it makes for some stunning projects! 

We are so excited to have the super talented Seth Apter as our July Guest Designer. He works with the gorgeous mixed media magazine Cloth Paper Scissors, he's an artist, and he also designs products like stamps and stencils. Truly he is a rock star and we are thrilled to have him!

He is also sponsoring our July prize! One random entrant will get Seth's beautiful stamp set!

Ok just one last thing before I *finally* get to my project... we are welcome a new Design Team Member! Clare Messenger is joining our team and you MUST view her first project HERE! It's gorgeous!

Now it's my turn!! I used the theme to have fun with a July 4th inspired art journal spread

My family and I had just visited Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where The Star Spangled Banner was written. That trip inspired the theme and the quote of my page: 

Through the clouds of the war the stars of that banner still shone.

The background of my page is created with Design Memory Craft Gelatos® in Cotton Candy, Blueberry, Snow Cone, Coconut, and Red Cherry. Once I colored the Gelatos® on my art journal, I sprayed the entire page with A LOT of water. I really wanted the pigment to move, mix, and flow through the page.

I used an old rubber star stamp from Unity and some red, white, and blue acrylic paints to 'stamp' the image throughout the journal. I found a lot of star wood veneers in my stash, sprayed them with navy mist, and glued them onto my page.

Thanks for spending your summer day with me! I can't wait to see your projects fill the Mixed Media Monthly gallery!

All About LAWN FAWN

It's been a while since I've shared a handmade card. I do still make them, especially when there's Lawn Fawn sitting on my desk waiting to be used! Today Paper Issues is featuring all things Lawn Fawn over at the blog! And don't forget Paper Issues sells Lawn Fawn in the store (and you can get 20% off with the code RWKRAFTS)!!!

It's hard to resist the off-the-charts cuteness of this new Lawn Fawn release. For my Flamingo card I used stamps "Flamingo Together" and "Yay, Kites!" that were colored with my Prismacolor Pencils. I also used some darling Lawn Fawn paper from the 6x6 "Let's Polka in the Meadow" stack.

I had a lot of fun creating this Mermaid card! I created the background by layering about 6 different blue Distress Inks, misting with water, then inking again... and again and again until I thought it looked like water. Then I stamped the seaweed along the bottom and up the side in a dark grey ink. This gives depth to the ocean scene and is so simple to do! Finally I stamped and colored just about every single image in the Lawn Fawn "Mermaid For You" stamp set. I stamped on watercolor paper and colored with my Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils. There are matching dies but I instead chose to fussy cut all of the images.

My last card today uses the cute mermaids again but with a much simpler background. I layered adorable papers from "Polka in the Meadow" and did some simple stamping on the bottom. These mermaids are also colored with Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils.

I'll try to create more cards now that I have some time over the summer! I just love these new Lawn Fawn stamps and I haven't even inked them all yet!

Go grab your favorite Lawn Fawn goodies in the shop and get 20% off EVERYTHING with the code RWKRAFTS at checkout. Have fun!

Ten Years of Meeko

This is a quick pop-in to share a very important mini album I created in honor of my fur baby's 10th birthday! I post every single one of the inside pages (one favorite photo per year of Meeko's life!) over at the Paper Issues Blog! Click Here to Check it Out! Thanks so much!

Mix It Up Monday - Acrylic Paint

First Monday of summer! It's time to pull out your acrylic paints and get messy for this month's Mix it Up Monday with Paper Issues!

I used a lot of cool-tone Dina Wakley acrylic paints to create the background of this page. I used a very recent photo of Matt and I on a harbor cruise through Chesapeake Bay. The water photo seemed fitting with the paint colors!

I used the "you are my happy" sentiment from Dear Lizzy Happy Place collection. I painted it light blue, then covered it with blue embossing powders, heated the powders, the painted over it with a dark blue. The dark paint settles in to the cracks left behind from the embossing powder. I love it!

A close up of my acrylic paint and embossed background. 

Check out what's new at the Paper Issues store and use the code RWKRAFTS for 20% off at checkout! And make sure to join the Mix it Up Challenge for a chance to win a Paper Issues gift card!

Party Til the Cows Come Home

It's summer!!!! Yesterday was the last day of school (with kids) so I'm continuing my stock pile of birthday cards to get through the summer. This time I followed a brand new card sketch at Paper Issues!

I was able to use the Simple Stories 'Let's Party' collection to pull this card together in 15 minutes! I love me a quick and easy card! Especially when it's this cute ;)

In case you haven't heard... you can use the code RWKRAFTS to receive 20% off your ENTIRE shopping cart at paperissues.com woooooohoo!!!

Take 5 Birthday Card

Helloooo Tuesday! The day before the last day of school! I am so ready for summer vacation :) 

I'm trying to stock pile some birthday cards so I can stop coming up with excuses for forgetting people's birthdays... laziness is not an excuse!

I used the super fun Simple Stories "Let's Party" collection to throw together this quick card for the June Take 5 Tuesday Challenge at Paper Issues!

The 5 options that I used on my card are: the color blue, pattern paper, washi tape, sticker, and die cut.

All of the ephemera pieces in the collection make it so easy to put a card together! It only took 15 minutes! A new record (for me)!

As always, feel free to use the code RWKRAFTS at paperissues.com to get 20% off your entire order!

Get Knotical Issue

Don't you love when there's a brand new ISSUE at Paper Issues?! I immediately joined in this month because it is my FAVORITE topic... Let's get KNOTical!! Or Nautical :)

I finally got to scrapbook some beach photos from my little girl getaway weekend to Atlantic City! I'm not sure how much I loved Atlantic City, but the beach really was beautiful and the sand was so soft! Even though it was freezing, Michelle and I still made sure we got some beach time in.

This layout uses 4 different nautical collections. I used Crate Paper "Ahoy", October Afternoon "Treasure Map", DCWV "Hey Sailor" stack, and Pink Paislee "Summer Solstice".

This layout is pretty outside my usual style... there's a lot of patterned paper, TONS of embellishments, and a design I don't usually gravitate towards. I still like how it turned out though, so maybe I should branch out a little more!

Find your favorite scrapbooking collections at the Paper Issues store! Use code RWKRAFTS for 20% your entire order!

Happy Birthday, Meeko!

Last weekend we celebrated our first born's TENTH birthday! I can't believe my sweet Meeko is 10 years old! I love my little man so so much. He's brought so much joy to our little family :) 

Of course Meeko gets his very own birthday scrapbook page! I was inspired by the brand new Sketchy Saturday sketch at Paper Issues...

I also used ONLY products from Simple Stories Let's Party collection. I really love this line for birthdays, it made the layout so easy to put together!

But of course I had some super cute photos to work with as well ;)

Happy birthday, Meeko!

Use code RWKRAFTS at paperissues.com for 20% off your entire order! Woohoo!

B More LOVE

Oh my goodness, how is it already June?! It's time to start pulling out all those beach supplies, beach-themed papers, and anything sunshine related! The brand new June Pinspire Me board will definitely get you in the summer mood!

 Isn't it gorgeous?! Mary-Ann is a rock star at making these mood boards for us. I took a bit of a subtle approach with my layout. I was inspired by all of the wood-grain mostly, and if you look closely my background cardstock is embossed in a woodgrain pattern :)

I was also inspired by the colors, especially the yellow heart and the colorful staircase in the corners of the mood board. This photo is of a popular mural that's painted on the sides of buildings throughout the streets of Baltimore. LOVE!

I used a lot of Maggie Holmes' Bloom collection in this layout. Love all those chipboard pieces!

You can join in the fun and create your own project base off this mood board! Find all the details here!

As always, use code RWKRAFTS at paperissues.com to get 20% off your entire order!

MMMC 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog!!!! It's hard to believe it's already been two years since Donna and I jump started this challenge, a first of it's kind! Thank you to ALL OF YOU who play along each month and keep our challenge thriving! 

We have a special challenge to celebrate... You get to pick from ANY of our challenges over the past year (the ones listed in the photo) to play along and be entered for a chance to win! Join in the celebration with our blog post here!

Our challenges this year were:

Summer Days

Get Texty

Photo Inspiration (colorful tires/birdhouse)

Haunted Word Search

Texture

Silver and Gold

Time Flies

Glitter

Photo Inspiration (eggs)

Dimension

Butterflies and Blooms

I wanted to recreate/mesh two of my favorite MMMC projects (Get Texty and Birds of a Feather from two years ago) so I grabbed inspiration from them both and created a mash up canvas! I am entering it for the DIMENSION challenge.

Our special guest designer this month is Jenny Marples from the Funkie Junkie Boutique! You won't want to miss her creation and be sure to check out all the goodies she's giving away!

NOW on to my project! Here are some steps to how I created my Dimension canvas...

I decided to try something new and used two canvases as one (so they need to be hung together to be complete). I started by adhering old book pages all over the canvases with matte medium. 

Then I grabbed a super old pack of chipboard Thickers (I know you have one somewhere!) and started gluing them to the canvas. I put the alphabet pieces where I wanted the 'flow' of my piece to go.

My next background step was to add some stenciling using The Crafter's Workshop Time for Love stencil. Then I applied a very thick coat of Distress Crackle Paint and heated it completely with my heat gun. My final background step was to gesso everything. I like to use Design Memory Craft Gesso for this step because it is very light, thin, and dries incredibly fast.

Yeesh that was a lot in one step! Keep with me here!

Next up is the fun part... GLUE ALL THE THINGS! I have a box of supplies that will only ever serve this one purpose... to be hot glued on a canvas and gesso'd. So I just grab whatever fits and plop it down. I used the three larger flowers as my anchors to keep the flow of the canvas. 

Then gesso them all and let it dry!

Before I start adding color sprays I do a couple base coats of Gelatos. I scribbled the two colors shown above, got my finger wet, and spread the color around. Once that dried I was able to spray with even more color!

I used three different Color Shine mists to get this pretty pastel look. After each color spray I did also spray over it with water so the colors wouldn't be so vibrant. I just love how it all transforms in this one step!!

I'll be adding these two Scribbly Birds to the canvas as my focal point. I colored them with Faber Castell Aquarelle watercolor pencils. Now I adhere my birds, a quote, and some other small doo-dads and call it finished!

Thanks for joining me and I hope you join in our 2nd anniversary challenge! Check out The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for all the details!! Happy June!