What Does Freedom Look Like?

Today I am celebrating. My good friend Sherri will be retiring this week. Forever free from the weight that grasped her for so long. She plans to devote her time to totally immerse herself in all forms of creativity. So many things can hinder our creativity. Sometimes the burdens of life seem to steal all our focus and pull us away from our passions. What does freedom look like to you? What would you do with your time if you had the luxury to choose? Can we stash away pockets of time to do the things we love? I hope so. It makes life worth living. Today I raise a paint brush to Sherri, may we have many play dates to come!
All the best,
Diane Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Butterflies

Once again, I had a wonderful time at the Heirloom Paper Craft Festival this year. I spent time with Greg from Marco's Paper and Susan Pickering Rothamel from USArtQuest. Susan has a fabulous book The Encyclopedia of Greeting Card Tools and Techniques that is a treasure to have in any crafter's library.
Inspired by some goodies I took home from the festival, I made this card which I hope my mom will enjoy for Mother's Day.

I started with a gold butterfly sticker, placed it on a sheet of double sided adhesive  added clear mirco beads and some shimmery Crystal Effectz I painted some beautiful iridescent watercolors on a sheet of paper and added to the back of adhesive. On the pink glossy paper I stamped the oval frame using a liquid Duo adhesive that dries tacky. Covered stamped image with some variegated leafing  Although it's hard to see, I added some pink chalk around the white oval. The pink paper is mounted on some lovely black velvet paper. Who doesn't like velvet!
Hope you find time to do something creative today.

all the best,
Diane

Great Craft Ideas for You

As I'm finishing some remaining work on areas of the blog, I want to turn my focus on upcoming projects.
One in particular I wanted to do was a series, One Stamp, Many Uses. I haven't decided exactly what stamp that would be and I'd like to ask you for help. Do you have a favorite stamp that is your go-to? Let me know, I may end up having a full blown challenge with PRIZES!!

If you think about it, part of our creativity is stretching ourselves to see how much we can do, and how far we can go. Sometimes that's with limited resources. We don't always have to have the latest products and everything stores have to offer, do we?? (I say this as HSN has a 24 hour craft day!)

Moving forward, I would love to hear from you on what types of projects, tutorials, ideas you would like to see.. I appreciate you and thank so many of you for your kind comments and emails.

You can reach me by email or let me know by leaving a comment..

All the best,
Diane

Distress Ink Easter Eggs

I had so much fun last year making Sticker Resist Easter Eggs that I thought I'd do it again this year. Yes, my family will be eating scrambled eggs all week but that's a small price to pay for a holiday tradition. Using a large needle, I poke holes in the egg slowly making the hole larger (Using anything larger may crack the egg) Blow the insides out, rinse and dry. You can tape one hole and pour some thin craft glue inside the egg and let it dry. this will make it a bit more stable in case you drop it- and you will drop it. Lightly sand the egg in case their is any rough patches.

I used Starform Stickers, letters and circles. Applied Distress Inks, Archival inks and Adirondack Spray, heat set between coats, remove stickers (I put the letter stickers back on for the photo) Spray with clear sealer. Added gold dot stickers to the brown egg and white borders stickers to the misted egg.

Need to finish up some other craft projects before the weather gets too nice to stay indoors.

All the best,

Diane

The Long Grey Days of Winter

It always seems like the dull grey of winter will never pass. but it always does eventually. There are not only grey days of our seasons but also grey times in our lives. I decided to take this opportunity while being stuck indoors to tackle some of my html computer monsters. An overhaul of my blog was well over due and took longer to figure out some aspects of it. That being said, I hope you find it enjoyable and please let me know if there are features not working properly (and how I'm supposed to fix them!!)

Here is another card using Stampscapes stamps. Making a scene in black and white actually takes a number of colors to achieve the depth to tone. I usually use Marvy Matchables Inks A subtle blue called Salvia Blue, Pale Orange, and Grey with a bit of Black on the edges.
March isn't so far away.
Diane

More Flameless Candle Embellishing

With so many stickers, stamps and art supplies now available, the decorating possibilities are endless. I just can't get enough of micro beads and once again I covered the Love words printed off the computer, wrapped around the candle and added the beads. The second candle couldn't be easier. Simply take letter stickers of your choice, and add stickers such as these to have as a sweet accent for a baby's room. Perfect idea to keep a variety of craft  supplies and candles in various sizes on hand for a last minute, yet personalized gift.

All the best,

Diane