Liebster Blog Award and Sharing the Blog Love...

A huge and heartfelt thank you to Cheryl Ann Robinson at Cheryl Ann's Stamping Spot for giving me the Liebster Blog Award. It's so awesome to be bestowed with an award from another artist and I am happy to continue this tradition. 

What is the Liebster Award?

Well. . .the origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear and this seems to be blog folklore but it goes like this: 

"Some time (in the recent past), somewhere (rumor has it that it might be Germany), someone (I guessing he/she was named Liebster) decided to do something nice for a whole lot of bloggers and started the Liebster Blog Award. It’s an award you receive, but it is also an award that you give."

Liebster is a German word so I translated it from a few sources - it means favorite, sweetheart, beloved, darling.

If you receive a Liebster Blog Award you are asked to choose 3-5 other bloggers and send them one as well. It is an award meant to highlight smaller blogs - less than 200 followers. Let them know that we care and are reading. The idea is that the blogger receiving the award links back to the blogger who awarded him/her, and then chooses 3-5 people to send the award to. There is no obligation to continue this award. It is a lovely way to share the love and also a way of introducing other bloggers to the blogs you enjoy.

Here are the blogs I would like

to pass the love on to:

Aimee Fleck -  Aimee's Art and Scraps

Barbara Rankin - Black Hole Art Studio

Becky Garrison - Camellia Cottage Designs

Fabrizio Martellucci - Steampunk Cardmaking

Lea Cioci - CreativeLea's Infinite Journey

These are just a few of my creative friends that I have met along my blogging travels! I encourage everyone to visit these blogs and let these talented artists know how very special they are! 

Happy Tuesday : ) Sb

Cindy Lou Who wishes you a Merry Christmas! Unscripted Sketches #160

It's been a busy three-day weekend...but I haven't forgotten!!! Here's my creation using this week's Sketch-It Saturday with Unscripted Sketches #160! I have taken a Challenge to do Christmas all Year with Unscripted Sketches and this is week #21. I'm still jingling my Christmas bells... Fa-la-la-la...la-la-la-la!!!


This card is made with leftover scraps of holiday paper with a die cut sentiment and ornament of Cindy Lou Who from my Grinch Paper Crafting Kit. The bow in the top is a handmade ribbon bow that I received in a flower swap I participated in last month. I received 17 handmade flowers of all different colors and styles. I feel sort of bad I cut this one up - but I only needed a section of it. I accented the section with a swirly button. This is so girly and fabulous!

What is Sketch it Saturdays at Unscripted Sketches? Every Saturday morning a new sketch is posted for the week. Flip the sketch, rotate it… create a card, a scrapbook page, a wall hanging, digital, paper, fabric, paint, anything your imagination comes up with! There is no right or wrong way, as long as you are using the Unscripted sketch as the inspiration for your creation! And everyone is invited to join in the fun...and post your creation on their page for all the world to see!

Thanks for dropping by...I hope you have had a wonderful holiday weekend spending time with your loved ones : ) Sb 

Celebrating and Remembering our Heroes on this Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day Weekend - My thoughts and Prayers go out to all Service Men and Women...past and present and to their families and loved ones. I also take this time to remember my Grandfather who served in the Coast Guard, my Father, the Navy, and my youngest sister Andrea, PFC Harden, who currently serves in the Army National Guard with the 29th BSB and is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. Her husband is SSG with the 25th ID and just returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. 

This photo from their Welcome Home Ball at the end of April. 

They are such a charming couple, aren't they.

This quote is pertinent today as is describes not only our service men and women, but their families, too. "Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perserverance". This quote was typed on a piece of white paper and taped to a column in my sisters' barracks when I attended her boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C. several years ago. This describes so simply how we meet our many challenges in life. As artists - we preservere in creating...it's an ongoing process.

That being said I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend. I've been getting some crafting done and today I have a "Star Spangled" project featured over at the Amazing Mold Putty Blog using Amazing Crafting Products by Alumilite Corp. 

I have created some star shaped magnets that were super easy to make using a star shaped ice cube tray and Amazing Casting Resin colored with various Alumilite Metallic Powders. And I also have a  special Amazing Crafting Products coupon for you too! CLICK HERE to view this fun project! Have a wonderful day : ) Sb

OWH Sketch #101 Quirky Bird for Operation Write Home Memorial Day Bloghop 2012

WELCOME to the HOP of all BLOGHOP's!

Welcome to my stop on Operation Write Home's Memorial Day Bloghop 2012 . This is my fourth year participating...my lil' sister and her hubby are in the Army National Guard. My sister has transferred from FL to the Hawaii National Guard. Her husband just returned from deployment in Afghanistan at the end of April. Our family is so proud and grateful to them and for all of our men and women serving in the armed forces and I love doing my part by using my creativity to support such an awesome cause...Operation Write Home!!!

My card design is following Operation Write Home's Sketch #101. I am using a quirky bird from my new plate of Mary Vogel Lozinak Stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps! I stamped this with black ink on white cardstock, then hand colored with Ranger Distress Markers and Glaze Pens. The background is a scrap of Basic Grey Patterned Paper on a purple card base. The stripes are metallic gift ribbon adhered with Miracle Tape. I finished off this "Quirky Bird" with some colorful feathers and he's ready for the party!!! I will be entering this in the VLVS Mary Vogel Lozniak Link Up Bloghop which is going on this weekend as well which will feature creations using Mary's hand-drawn images pressed to rubber. CLICK HERE to visit that hop!

Wishing you and your family a Happy Memorial Day!!! I hope you are enjoying the festivities! Thanks so much for dropping by. You can CLICK HERE to get back to Operation Write Home at the top of the HOP!

Wishing you a Merry Little Christmas for this Festive Friday Number Ten!

Greetings!!! Welcome to the tenth installment of Terri Sproul's 2012 Festive Friday Bloghop! It's the end of May and Memorial Day Weekend is here! Are you working on your holiday craft projects yet??? You should have arrived here from Laura's Page. To get back to the beginning of the bloghop CLICK HERE.

Happy Festive Friday! Here's a sweet little card made with a mossy green cardstock base layered with a scrap of Basic Grey Holiday Paper {I have a secret stash of this stuff} and a few Sandy Lion Holiday stickers leftover from other Christmassy projects. I matted the word "Christmas" and put "merry little" on a torn piece of red patterned paper. This is all finished off with a couple creme photo corners. The presents have some glittery shimmery goodness on them, too! So Sweet!

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Thanks for visiting!!!

The next stop on the Festive Friday Bloghop

is Laura at Scrappin' Daphne - CLICK HERE.

It's a holiday weekend...YAY!!! With an extra day to play. There's some fantastic events online happening too. This is what I'll be participating in these this weekend...

AND

Please hop on over to check out what I've created for both of these bloghops on SATURDAY AM. Just CLICK the images above to take you there {OWH will not be live until Saturday morning}. I hope you have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!! I'm on the hunt for some BBQ and some fresh sliced watermelon : ) Sb

Sunday Afternoon Inspiration...

What am I up to today. I'm playing in my studio and I have put together a how-to today which is featured over at the Altered Pages Blog. I have made several Image Transfers using images from AlteredPages.com and Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer. By using Crystal Lacquer, this process is accelerated by not only hours...but days!

I bring you a step-by-step on making an image transfer.

Please CLICK HERE to view.

I hope you are inspired to go and try something new. Please visit the Altered Pages website for Collage Sheets, Ephemera, Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers, Rubber Stamps, blank items ready to alter, Project kits and more! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm off to visit the craft show : ) Sb

Traditional Holiday Greeting with an Inky Twist using Unscripted Sketches #159

Welcome to Sketch-It Saturday with Unscripted Sketches!!! My apologies - the Grinch had a wedding to crash this weekend so he's taking a little hiatus...LOL!!! This week I've made this lovely card using Unscripted Sketches #159 and the additional Piggyback Challenge they have this week to "USE INK". And YES - I'm still doing Christmas All year - this makes week #20! To date I have 18 cards, one gift box, and a scrapbook page - and it's only Mid-May...WOWEE!!!


This is put together with scraps leftover from this and that - but I will tell you about the embossed flourish background. This was my "INKY" part. I took a piece of off-white cardstock and tried out the faux letterpress technique with one of my Cuttlebug folders. This was the second one I made. The first I applied Ranger "Pine Needles" Distress Ink directly to the folder and placed the paper in and ran it through. The ink came out all spotted - the same way it was beaded up before placing the paper in. That's in the recycle bin. This is the second attempt and I spritzed the ink with an evenly distributed mist of water prior to putting the paper in and it came out lovely and muted. Then I heat set and rubbed with some chalk inks and my favorite DewDrop Antique Gold Pearlescent ink.


The sentiment is a double layered chipboard sticker {I think K&Co.} layered on top of a Martha Stewart Snowflake border punch and flanked on each side with a pearly blue brad. So full of festive colors and textures!

What is Sketch it Saturdays at Unscripted Sketches? Every Saturday morning a new sketch is posted for the week. Flip the sketch, rotate it… create a card, a scrapbook page, a wall hanging, digital, paper, fabric, paint, anything your imagination comes up with! There is no right or wrong way, as long as you are using the Unscripted sketch as the inspiration for your creation! And everyone is invited to join in the fun...and post your creation on their page for all the world to see!

Thanks for dropping by...I hope you have some fun crafty stuff planned for your weekend : ) Sb 

Thankful Thursday...and some Stamped Daisy Springtime Goodness!

OK - I mentioned last week that I had some news to share. Please bear with me because I have some catching up to do because a few things happened that I want to share what I am so GRATEFUL AND THANKFUL for!! 

First off - when logging in today, I have discovered that I now have 100 loyal followers. Hello all and I'm sending {{{ big crafty hugs }}} to each and every one of you!!! 

Secondly - a few weeks ago one of my crafty counterparts sent me an email stating that they have presented me with the "Liebster Blog" Award. My little crafty ramblings have been blogfully acknowleged by one of my crafty peers - totally OUTSTANDING! I will blog about this in further detail tomorrow. Thanks Cherylann!!!

Third - I received a package of crafty goodness containing a Gift Card prize from a game I played at Theresa Cifali's blog. I just wanted to say thanks again to her because I wasn't actually the winner, but she gave me and one other player a prize for also getting the correct answer in her super fun game. This was super generous of her. AND if you don't follow this Crafty Diva  - you should!!!

And finally - I've saved the best for Last!!! Today I have a special guest feature today over with my friends at Viva Las Vegastamps! - AND - beginning next month I will be returning to the VLVS Design Team. YES - I am doing a Happy Dance!!! CLICK HERE to see the post. 

Now on to the crafty goodness portion of today's program....

My stamps may have been on a short-lived vacation, but my heart is never far away from stamping. I'm playing along with the Viva Las Vegastamps! May Flowers Challenge today. I have used the following for this beauty that has sprung up from all our April showers: the Stylized Bee #3713 and Daisies #4994 stamps from VLVS. I stamped the images using a rainbow ink pad with orange to brown colors onto a piece of handpainted yellow paper. I painted the a bunch of paper awhile back using some of Traci Bautista's techniques {very fun and messy}. I stamped the Daisies on the right side first. I also made a couple of quick masks with stickie notes and then repeated the daisies across the bottom of the sheet - moving the masks to protect the flowers as I stamped. Then I stamped the bee. After heat setting {since this was stamped over acrylic paint}, I cut the paper apart in asymmetrical sections then chalk inked the edges of each. I adhered all the pieces in a mosaic pattern using my MIRACLE TAPE onto a plum cardstock base. I added some touches of color with Ranger Distress Markers and finished off with some blingy gem rhinestones. Voila!!!

Some Flowery Goodness for May!!!

I'm entering this in the VLVS Theme Challenge for May! May is all about Flowers. CLICK HERE for info on submissions. You inLinkz your "MAY FLOWERS" creations using Viva Las Vegastamps! for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate at the VLVS online store. Don't forget to check out the Viva Las Vegastamps! store and set up your WISH LIST. I'm crossing my fingers to see if I win!!!

I am so overjoyed to be returning to the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team next month. I will be participating in the VLVS Mary Vogel Lozinak Bloghop on May 26th and 27th, too - ARE YOU??? 

Thanks so much for dropping by for a visit! Have a great evening! Sb

Adding Accents and Dimension to Vintage Images - Featured Project at Sakura Hobby Crafts

Happy Wednesday! Today I have a featured project over at the Sakura Hobby Craft Blog. I am adding accents and dimension to a vintage Holiday image using Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers via a VIDEO how-to.

I purchased a digital vintage Christmas image {AP single 601} of a holiday storefront window from AlteredPages.com. I printed out four copies onto a matte finish white cardstock - enough so that I can accent the and dimensionalize the base layer, and accent other sections and figures that I will cut out and raise on multiple layers with pop dots for a faux 3-D effect.

With this image, I show how-to accent the details using different colors of Terri Sproul Mixers. I also make the window dimensional using Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and streaks of blue colored Crystal Lacquer to simulate glass.

This project has gone from subtle and flat to luxurious and dimensional. I originally planned to use this as a feature element for a holiday card - but now I think it will have to become a shadow box to be put out with the Christmas decorations for years to come.

Please watch the following video to see my process {you may want to grab a snack and a drink now}. CLICK HERE to go to see the video! Have a wonderful Wednesday : )

Save the Date!!! Please Join us on May 26th for the OWH Memorial Day Bloghop!

It's that time of year again for the

HOP of all BLOGHOP's!

The Operation Write Home Memorial Day Bloghop. 

There's still time to get in on the fun. If you would like to be one of the participating blogs and feature one of your own creations CLICK HERE for all the info to get involved! See you there!!!

Hooray It's Sketch-It Saturday!!! Max's Debut with Unscripted Sketches # 158

Here's my creation using Unscripted Sketches #158! If you are keeping tabs on me I have taken a Challenge to do Christmas all Year with Unscripted Sketches. This is week #19 and to date I have 17 cards, one gift box, and a scrapbook page. Fa-la-la-la...la-la-la-la!!!

What is Sketch it Saturdays at Unscripted Sketches? Every Saturday morning a new sketch is posted for the week. Flip the sketch, rotate it… create a card, a scrapbook page, a wall hanging, digital, paper, fabric, paint, anything your imagination comes up with! There is no right or wrong way, as long as you are using the Unscripted sketch as the inspiration for your creation! And everyone is invited to join in the fun...and post your creation on their page for all the world to see!

Thanks for dropping by...I have some exciting things coming up next week so stay tuned!!! Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend : ) Sb 

My Own Butterfly Garden - a Springtime Greencrafting Project

Happy Friday!!! The weekend is finally here so I can get back to playing in my studio and my addiction - altered arts. I just wanted to share with you something special that I made for Altered Pages. Summer has arrived unseasonably early here in South Florida {in February}, and spring missed us completely. I so love the butterflies attracted to all the flora and fauna here. And because of the heat so early, spring came and gone in the blink of an eye.

It is so easy to become inspired with the Collage Sheets from Altered Pages. This upcycled project began with a recycled liquor bottle dome packaging that I have been hoarding and hiding from my husband {because he handles all recycling on tuesdays}. Funny thing, about a half an hour after I retrieved it from my secret hiding place, he asked if he could recycle it for me! I have altered this container into my own indoor butterfly aviary using Altered Pages Collage Sheets and embellishments. With this project the Victorian Butterfly image sheet AP-1066 come to life in a 3-dimesional decorative piece.

Here is the lovely result. And great news...my little greencrafting project is now available as a kit at the AlteredPages.com website that you get beautiful instructions and all the goodies needed to make your own. I am so excited!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you are inspired to go and create something. Please visit the Altered Pages website for my PROJECT KIT, Collage Sheets, Rubber Stamps, Blank items ready to alter, other designers kits, tutorials and more! Have a crafty weekend! Sb

Festive Friday Number NINE - Holiday Altered Mini Journal Using Recycled Wrapping Paper

Welcome to the ninth installment of Terri Sproul's 2012 Festive Friday Bloghop! It's May already and Mother's Day is two-days away. You should have arrived here from Amanda's Page. To get back to the beginning of the bloghop CLICK HERE.

Happy Festive Friday! Since I have been making Christmas Cards every week for Unscripted Sketches, I thought I would change things up and decorate a mini journal. I have been into a frenzy of greencrafting since Earth Day a couple weeks back and this altered 4" x 6" mini journal is now covered with a piece of wrapping paper and a few scraps from my seasonal stash.

 

C'mon...admit it! I know I'm not the only one who saves lovely wrapping paper to use for crafty projects. This book background is wrapping paper, the tree is a paper die cut by My Minds Eye wrapped with some fuzzy fiber topped off with a mirror star that I colored yellow with a permanent Bic Mark-its pen. I used some Miracle Tape to adhere on the green ribbon layered with white ric-rac and to adhere a red metallic pipe cleaner that had been fiber wrapped with some Basic Grey fibers. This will make a lovely little gift!

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Thanks for visiting!!!

The next stop on the Festive Friday Bloghop

is Laura at Scrappin' Daphne - CLICK HERE.

I made my first how-to video!!!

I made a little how-to video for a my Crafty and Green Swap Group. This is a bottle swap we are going to be doing this month. Sorry this swap is closed. But if you are interested in joining this group. Leave a comment with your info and I'll send you the info : ) Sb

Playing with Altered Pages Collage Sheets and More

I spent my Sunday unwinding from the National Scrapbooking Day festivities yesterday...and after a long night's sleep - I was feeling in the mood to make some altered things. So I downloaded some Altered Pages Digital Download Collage Sheets from AlteredPages.com and today I am playing with some of them to make some fun tags.

Please CLICK HERE to visit the Altered Pages Blog to see the fun tag that I created - and - some interesting printing techniques using the digital collage sheets.

After dinner and a short nap - my creative clock is still ticking. I broke out my new Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers and some book pages and chipboard keys I got from AlteredPages.com. Burning the midnight oil - I have been experimenting and painting everything within reach. Please CLICK HERE to visit the Altered Pages Blog to see what I discovered!

The weekend is way to short - when do we get to vote to institute the TWO-DAY workweek and the FIVE-Day WEEKEND??? Happy Crafting! Sb