Inspired

Reading the many entries for Pink Saturday is very inspiring for many areas of my artistic life. Watching the Olympics this last several days has been very inspiring to me for setting and working to achieve goals.
For fashion and dressing my favorite inspiration comes from the Internet. It all began when I received an invitation to a Disney movie party and was asked to wear an outfit inspired by a Disney character.
I was at a loss, so I googled it and was quite shocked and surprised. There are a plethora of pictures for every Disney character be it a princess or another charming character. It was fun putting an outfit together for the occasion. I picked an outfit that was casual, but nevertheless very influenced by the character I choose. To my delight the moment that my host greeted me at the door with a smile on her face (as she was quite surprised that I actually dressed for the occasion),  she addressed me by my character, "Hello Mrs. Potts". What was I wearing? A casual mix of Pink, white, lavender and light blue.

It was a great event. Please leave a comment if you have played dress up for an occasion with family or friends. I love to hear about your event.
Find more wonderful Pink here at Beverly's Blog for Pink Saturday.
Happy Pink Saturday!

Trading

It's been some time since my last post, however creativity has continued to be part of life for me, finding a moment to share it has been the challenge.
I have missed sharing with you and miss the blog community and friendships that I had developed.
I hope that all is well with you and your lives are full of joy, happiness and creativity!
This month's theme has been designated as "masculine" because father's day falls in it, so each member of the group made series of father's day postcards.
I was out and about early this morning to trade these postcards.
Thank you Graphics 45 for creating wonderful images to use. It was sure fun.

Please have happy and healthy day!
Have a wonderful father's day celebration....and thanks for visiting!

The Altered Sleeve

Many posts ago I shared the altered sleeves I created for a swap.
I have received a sweet coffee and tea book in return and am so thrilled to share it with you.
This swap was great fun and it was wonderful to receive this great treasure in the mail.

Book cover

I prefer tea!

Add cream please!

Mornings are always good with a hot cup of Coffee!

Percolator Beauty!

Not only can you alter sleeves for a keepsake book,  it might be fun to create a digital collage for a special event or party that you are hosting and make a printable for the hot cider or chocolate that you might be serving. Click here for a sample template. Why stop there...get out some glitter and ribbons and have fun! Host a fairy party and make some bracelets with cut outs,glitter and ribbon... it would be so much fun!

I hope this project inspires you to get creative and have fun! 

Thank you for coming to visit and have a wonderful and creative day!

My Stuff Your Stuff

It was a blast to get creative with the loot that was sent to me from the for the "My Stuff, Your Stuff" swap.
I recently sent out the two cards that were made. I have completed one more card and have selected pieces to make another card.
Card one is an Asian theme. Four different elements were used on this card. The text and the Chinese man were from the Heaven Money. A Chinese coin would have worked as well, however this gold flower was found amongst the goodies and it fit well!

Fortune

If you look closely at the picture a few posts back in October you will spy the materials that were used for these two cards.  This second card was made from an old invitation you can see it in the picture on the top in the center of the stash. There was also an old map and the silver heart embellishment that I was able to use. The card shouts Love! The greens look lime in this picture, when actually they are more pastel. A little glitter was added to give the card a little shimmer.

Love

If you are asked to participate in a swap like this, do sign yourself up. You will have fun and you will get some great art in return!
The swaps I received will be in a future post, they are gorgeous!

Altered Boxes

This week was an exciting week with altered art. As you see, I was given a stack of dinnerware boxes-as I am know to be an altering creative person. After some reflection I thought they would make perfect "Prop Boxes" for my girl scout troop's current journey. This week we began altering. As you see from the picture quite a lot of pink was used as the girls really love that color.

Quite awhile ago I purchased a bag of several cabinet door pulls similar to the one below at the Goodwill for about $1.50, saving them for just such an occasion. They worked great as the handles for the boxes. They were hot glued and secured with the screws after the top was decorated.

Later in the week I was invited to a very special birthday party celebration. And thought I would make card to give with the gift. However, when the creative process began things changed up, as they so very often do. The box below (the same box used as photographed above) is the finished project and while I was photographing the box before the event, I though that I must make a tag to hang from the handle which would say "Happy Birthday!", and so I did,  however there was no time to photograph it as I was off to the event!

This is a very happy Pink Saturday! Please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound  for more seasonal celebrations, she has posted a wonderful Pecan Pie recipe and is featuring sweater pumpkins!
As always, be happy and celebrate this beautiful day!

A Beaded Chain

There is an event every Friday Night in downtown Mesa. 

Every 2nd Friday features local artists.

These artist bring their creations and set up booths that line both sides of the main street. 

The shops along the street stay open and often have special promotions during the event.

I happened to go to a wonderful art gallery opening a few weeks ago during this event.

There was a wonderful artist there who loved to bead.

Her designs were captivating.

This necklace was one of my favorites from her collection so elegant. Composed of small gold seed beads which are strung on thread.
Simple, yet beautiful.

Art Can Change Your Life

I love to create and share art. It's fun to look at paper and images and cut them out and glue them together adding a touch of glitter or other small dazzling embellishment and completing an ATC to share or trade.

This is the latest Marie Card created for Pink Saturday!

Pretty Pink Marie

I look forward  to the ATC swap once a month to meet up with friends to see the creative outcome of the current month's theme. I really enjoy getting to know the friends in the artistic community.

It's a wonderful world wide community as well. 

Recently I joined a swap to create 2 ATC's for a partner. The theme is "My stuff, Your stuff...." Participants gathered stash to send to their selected partner and create two ATC's from the exchanged stash.

Wow did I get stuff... I spread some of it out so you can have a peek, well what do you think?

I am really looking forward to displaying the little works of art that will be created from this stash!

"My Stuff...Your Stuff"

 

I have begun the creative process by putting some of the papers and images in little groups.  It will be fun to share the ATC's that will be made from this package of goodies. I can hardly wait to hear what you think!
Such a great Pink Saturday! Please visit Beverly for more inspiring Pinkness!
Thank you for your visit!

The Journey

We're all on a journey. 

Some are fortunate to have a destination others move in one direction after another.

The journey for Moo Mania began with a blank substrate 

to which a shimmering green paper was applied.

Black diamonds added with a map of Paris in the center. 

Add a woman with soulful eyes and finish with the title.

 Another journey taken was a 4 x 4 swap.
This fashionable vintage lady is awaiting her train which will take her on an unlimited adventure.
She has everything she needs with her - watch, map, ticket and her desire to explore places of which are unknown to her.

Thank you for taking a journey to visit today and share my paper journey.
It would be wonderful of you to leave a comment and share a wonderful journey of yours.

Come to Tea!

Life is delicious, especially if you can step into a Tea Party all in Pink! 

What a wonderful way to celebrate the season!

Thank you, Alice, for the invitation. 

The Earl Grey tea with sweetened vanilla is so very yummy,

the strawberry biscuits are delectable 

and this cake to pretty to cut!

Happy Pink Saturday!

For more wonderful pink visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound!

Let's Get Crafty

I am thrilled to participate in another Creations by AR Customer Blog Hop.  This blog hop's theme is: "Let's Get Crafty"as you may have noticed if you have just arrived from Carmen's blog. The blog hop will run from September 19 and comments will be accepted until midnight Eastern time on Sat., Sept. 21.
There will be one blog hop prize (winner's choice of template). The winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on that blog), so please leave a comments on each blog. Please visit (and Like!) the CbyAR Facebook page and leave a comment there too!

With the cooler weather coming many of us are gearing up for the craft season to begin.
This year my goal is to get a little more organized. So for this hop I have created the Folder Organizer to arrange some sewing supplies in, such as fabric remnants, beads, ribbons and buttons as well as pins and needles. This organizer is quick and easy to make and keeps things so much more organized.

It's available on the Creations by AR site and is fun to make. I have made it from the Graphics 45 Gentleman paper line to match the guest room, which is also the sewing room when visitor's are not using the room.  The template is easy to download.
To begin grab 3 sheets of brown paper(the color that I used) and 3 sheets of coordinating  12 x 12. Follow the directions that come with the template cutting guides. With a bit of folding with a bone folder and some glue you will be organized in moments!

The organizer base

The directions for this wonderful organizer are easy to read and construction is quick, before long, you can be whipping up several of these for all different purposes. As I was putting it to together I thought this would even make a nice holder for a crafty friend to hold ribbons,dies or even handmade cards for different occasions.

Thank you for visiting and please leave a comment, as they are so nice to read.
Please visit Mary's blog next to see what craftiness is going on there.
And for more inspiration from the participants of this wonderful blog hop please visit:

Lisa Eisner - http://craftingwithprincesslisa.blogspot.com/

Diana Auberle - http://kreativfenster.blogspot.de/

Raissa Spatola - http://www.raissastamps.com/

Carmen Mitchell - http://carmenscreationss.blogspot.ca/

Gigi Lorenc - http://sunshinelollipopsandbutterflies.blogspot.com/

Mary Roberson - http://handmadeheartfelt.wordpress.com/

A Bit of Altering.....

The first moment I laid eyes on coffee cup sleeves, I thought..."what a fun substrate to do a bit of altering on".
Well, I finally took the opportunity and joined a swap with paper traders, I had made the commitment....

Altered Coffee Cup Sleeves

Pictured here are some of the sleeves that were created for the trade.

The first sleeve was inspired by this cameo as well as the vintage papers which were at hand. The combination of black with pink is so pretty. Using the soft brown paper printed with vintage ads as well as a piece of cotton  lace as  contrasting elements.

Cameo Side

Ad Side

 This next is a sleeve inspired by the bathing beauties of a wonderful Graphics 45 paper collection.  It was fun selecting the papers to use for this beach themed sleeve, as the colors are rich and images are perfectly sized for this project.

Side 1

Side 2

Another sleeve was inspired by the elegant color combination of the primary collage paper selected as the main element. Aqua and sand with a few jewel tones for contrast. The flowers look so pretty on top of the neutral colors of the backgrounds which are dictionary text and sheet music.

Side 1

Side 2

Graphics 45 have several fun collections, I could seethe dancers printed in this one dancing across the coffee cup sleeves looking wonderful against the gold that this sleeve was painted. It almost makes you feel like dancing!

Flapper Step

Quick Step

There are so many ways to alter a coffee cup sleeve. This is just a start.  One of the most fun things about this project is that the coffee cup sleeve can be bound together in a little book. This is a great tutorial on a coffee themed album which is you may find fun and inspiring or if you like something a little more elegant this may be your latte.  I hope you have a try, because if you do you may not be able to stop at just one!

Paper Flowers

Beautiful flowers bring tremendous joy to our lives as they adorn our world with color and as they perfume the air around us with scent.  Picking out flowers for a hostess gift or for the home to decorate for a special occasion can be the highlight of an event.

Heirloom Pinks

A wedding is truly one of the most joyous events and picking out flowers for it a most special occasion itself.

Contemporary Pinks

As I love to create paper flowers I stumbled on these glorious bouquets for a bride made out of....paper!
So gorgeous in their arrangements I had to share these with you!

Poppy Love

If you have never tried making paper flowers, give it a try. It's fun and can give a room so much beautiful color. Who knows, you may even find yourself making wrist-lets and corsages for your next special event!

Please visit Beverly for more fabulous Pinks....And have a Happy Saturday!
(Photos from Paper Wedding Flowers)