#Cre8time Love for Crochet and Ultra VIOLET... 2018 Pantone Color Collaborative

Hello Friends! Thanks for popping in today for a special celebration of color as I am participating in a collaborative project hosted by Tina Walker with artists from around the world. PLEASE CLICK HERE to jump over to Tina Walker's blog who is our hostess and organizer of this Cre8time adventure and see her gorgeous violet creation. Please take a moment to leave her a comment and give her some love for dreaming up these fun events to inspire and challenge our muses!

PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet

Inventive and imaginative...

Ultra Violet lights the way for what is yet to come!

OH YES!!!

How could I possibly say no to a challenge using the 2018 Pantone color of the year - ULTRA VIOLET??! This is MY color. My living/dining room wall is painted THIS color. I drive my hairstylist crazy trying to get my hair this color. 

I am all about ALL THINGS PURPLE, it just makes me smile! In my creations it's usually the first color I reach for {CLICK HERE to see what these glorious purple gears became}.

To be honest, this is not the purple project I planned or imagined... I have been out of town for a few weeks caring for my 94 year old grandmother since my uncle who cares for her had a stroke and is in hospital indefinitely. Life has been upside-down. I reflect and write this as I sit in the airport waiting to head back home to take care of my own health issues and my next Entyvio infusion. My heart is heavy with what may happen with my uncle {and godfather} in the coming days and weeks.

Last month while attending Creativation, I was in awe at all of the crochet and knit inspiration and was introduced to LOVE knitting and LOVE crochet and returned home with some beautiful yarns to create with for the 2018 Favecrafts Best Blogger Contest. 

Growing up, my mom was always involving me in all things crafty and handmade, including cooking, baking and sewing... but I never learned to knit or crochet. 15 years ago I tried to pick up crochet and my mom helped me get started with a simple chain stitched crochet baby blanket. I finished the project, but being ambidextrous, I had a real hard time holding and working with the yarn. I hope my friend cherishes the wonky baby blanket I made for her.

Even though I had assembled a pile of purple goodness for this project, I threw a bunch of winter clothes and gear into two suitcases and jumped on a one-way flight to the winter tundra up north. I had no time to pack or even think, but I grabbed my beginner crochet/knit kits and threw them in the suitcase. This turn of events would be the perfect opportunity to learn this right of passage from my mother and grandmother.

LOVE crochet {and LOVE knitting} is a global community for makers everywhere. Visit any site in the LoveCrafts family and you’ll see a world designed for makers -- a dedicated place where makers’ projects are celebrated, advice is shared and it’s easy to buy supplies for selected crafts. You can even learn something new! So from my phone I perused LOVE crochet, watched some tutorials, and selected some designs I wanted to try.

I selected this simple heart pattern to try first.

I had hooks, but needed some yarn so my Mom and I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby while having an hour to run errands around getting Grandma to her appointments. I found one skein of this gorgeous purple yarn called "VELVET".

This seemingly simple pattern was a bit of a challenge to a complete NOOB, but my mom stayed the course. We had to refer to more tutorials and my grandmother beamed with smiles, though declined to offer her help LOL. After many frustrating hours of my mom patiently showing me various ways to knit and crochet... and trying umpteen ways to sort out how my ambidextrous self could work the hooks... I settled on crochet. I have to wrap the yarn around my neck to manage the tension. This one heart project uses a variety of crochet stitches, so as we worked together, I learned by best by doing. 

This is my mom's heart, about 2 1/2" across

{as her yarn was a thinner gauge}. Isn't this so CUTE?!

After completing a wonky test square that I immediately unfurled as to not waste my limited PURPLE goodness -- I crocheted it into this finished piece... a glorious purple wonky heart 💜

I'm totally in LOVE with this chunky wonky heart! Once we got going, it didn't take long. I have more stitches in one side, than the other, but I'm OK with that. It's more important that during this trying time in our family, three generations put our hearts and minds together and enjoyed the blessings of being snowed in and our love of creating.

For the love of family and Cre8time heART!

I can't wait to make another and practice my new hobby. My heart is about 6" across since using a chunkier yarn. What do you think should I make with this?! Comment below with your ideas... I'm toying with turning this into a garland, a dreamcatcher, or continuing around it to enlarge into a larger heart to make a pillow.

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you are inspired to go grab something ULTRA VIOLET and CREATE! Please feel free to add your NEW creation to the linkup.

Have a creative day!  :) Sb

Click on the squares below
for more VIOLET inspiration
from the

"2018 Pantone Color Collaborative"

An InLinkz Link-up

Sharing Art from the #Cre8time Heart...

Who doesn't love a brand new bottle of paint?!! Except when it bursts all over the place - YIKES! In an effort to clean up a bunch of spilled paint – I quickly grabbed a bunch of stuff to paint red in a hurry. This beautiful tag full of mixed-media LOVE is what became of my crafty accident... READ MORE  

Hello friends! Today I am sharing some TAG-a-licious inspiration filled with mixed-media LOVE. This tag was born from a Cre8time mess created when opening and testing a new RED distress paint dauber. With some quick thinking, I scooped what I could back into the bottle. Then I grabbed some unpainted goodies that were within reach -- a chipboard heart, a pair of grungeboard wings, recycled book paper and blank tags to quickly use and mop up the remaining spilled paint. I think I was painted more than the items, but it was all in good messy fun!

A few things I've used are leftovers from other projects or from artsy friends. The "beauty lies within" came from a supply box purchased from my creative friend Catherine. This corkscrew topped lady head is from a box of very special stamps from a dear friend from my local altered book group who is no longer with us. This stamp will be perfect to take flight as a mini art doll on this tag.

There was a heart already collaged in this bezel, but I tore it out so that I could add a chipboard piece that was part of my red paint frenzy. I brushed the metal frame with some tarnished brass and red distress paint, then lined the inner edge with some mini red sequin trim held in place with Diamond Glaze.

Everything gets a rubbing around the edges with tarnished brass. This chipboard heart gets a red bling heart before it's mounted into the pendant.

The rest of this came together rather organically -- things just layered up so beautifully as I added scraps and leftover bits from my stash. Layered on the painted tag: a torn scrap of an embossed painted paper, some mini rick-rack, sari ribbon, gold trim and painted lace.

I stamped grungeboard wings with script text. The lady is stamped onto gesso painted recycled book paper, with a touch of color from with distress markers. I add tiny piece of embroidered trim for a necklace... even the littlest scrap of the border trim is put to use!

I finished off bodice with some other goodies in my crafty stash: a beaded dangle; some sari ribbon; fun fiber; and green/red raffia. A work of mixed media love!!!

Have you seen her??

 

I participated in the "Sharing the Creative Heart" while at Creativation a week ago. This was a collaborative art abandonment project by the AFCI Designer Section, where we dropped our creations around Creativation in Phoenix, Arizona to be found on January 21st. While I was demonstrating, my friend Tracy and her hubs scoped out and planted my lovely lady to be found in the park area at the show entrance. We are all excited to hear where she has landed!

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy this Valentine's Inspiration! I would love your help in locating where this lovely tag has ended up in the Cre8time world by sharing. Hope you have a creative day!  :) Sb

#Cre8time Beauty Lies Within... For Love of #MixedMedia Bloghop

Hello friends! Welcome to a special bloghop that I am participating in with a group of my creative pals celebrating "For the Love of Mixed Media". Not only are we sharing our passion for all things mixed media... we have projects with a LOVE theme.

If you arrived here in the middle of the hop, you can CLICK HERE to jump over to Christy Strickler's blog who is our hostess and organizer of this Cre8time adventure and some amazing Valentine's Inspiration!

I haven't been doing so much creating lately, though I'm always up for a good challenge and an opportunity to just dump out some stuff and play. I have been itching to use this shield pendant that has collaged paper with a phrase "beauty lies within" {from a supply goodie box I purchased from my creative friend Catherine Scanlon}. I had plans of making a necklace with it and molded up some items to pair with it... but my muse had other plans. 

I also brought out one of my special stamps that is from a dear friend from my local altered book group who passed on several years ago. Her vast collection of stamps were made available for sale to a special group of creative friends and I have about a dozen of her stamps {one of which is this corkscrew topped lady head}. I like to think that when I use these stamps... my muse and my dear friend are having a Cre8time playdate.

There was a heart collaged in this bezel, though I wanted to use a chipboard piece that was a different size/shape - so I had to tear it out. I brushed the metal frame with some tarnished brass and red distress paint, then lined the inner edge with some mini red sequin trim held in place with Diamond Glaze.

The rest of this came together rather organically as I had to paint a bunch of stuff red in an effort to clean up spilled paint from opening the newest RED distress paint dauber. So my chipboard heart, and grungeboard wings, some book paper and this tag were quickly painted red and tarnished brass. I build up the base of the tag with a torn scrap of an embossed painted paper in my stash, some mini rick-rack, sari ribbon, gold trim and painted lace.

The grungeboard wings are stamped with script text and my lady is stamped onto painted book paper accented with distress markers for a touch of color.

Needless to say I think more color is now on my hands than on anything else - LOL! I added a trimmed off piece of embroidered trim for a necklace... I love when those little scraps find a use while I'm assembling things.

I finished off bodice with a beaded dangle that was in my stash o' findings which was a perfect match for this color palette. I topped off the tag with some sari ribbon, fun fiber and green/red raffia. A work of mixed media love!!!

To visit all the other stops of

"For the Love of Mixed Media" Bloghop...

check out the links below.

Our Hostess - Christy Strickler

http://myscrapbookevolution.blogspot.com/2016/02/for-love-of-mixed-media-blog-hop.html

Robyn Crowningshield

https://cozienookhomestead.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/for-the-love-of-mixed-media-blog-hop/

Tina Walker

http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/2016/02/for-love-of-mixed-media-blog-hop.html

Katie Smith

http://www.punkprojects.com/2016/02/mixed-media-heart-journal.html

Beth Soler

http://scrappingwonders.com/for-love-of-mixed-media-blog-hop/

You are here... Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

http://sbartist.blogspot.com/2016/02/cre8time-beauty-lies-within-for-love-of.html

Lulu Bea

http://lulubeas.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/mixed-media-altered-art/

Melissa Johnson 

https://melsartjournal.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/for-the-love-of-mixed-media-blog-hop/

Thanks for dropping by! Have a creative weekend :) Sb

#Cre8time Love is in the Air... Valentine's Day Projects with Designer Crafts Connection

Hello friends and Happy February... the month of LOVE! This month the Designer Crafts Connection is feeling the Cre8time "Love in the Air" and sharing Valentine's Day projects. CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog and be inspired!

Today I'm sharing a super fun and easy way to dress up your morning coffee for your Valentine with some custom shaped sugar cubes... and this is certainly a project that you can do with the kiddos.

Using some heart-shaped chocolates from the Dollar Tree {my favorite guilty pleasure}, I created a mold with Amazing Mold Putty. I hot glued four of them onto my glass craft mat and pressed the mold putty around them. I didn't even bother unwrapping them. I love the texture of the foil on the chocolates. To view how Amazing Mold Putty works... CLICK HERE.

By the way... did I mention

that my new DIY mold

is FOOD SAFE!!!

Next thing I did was rummage around my pantry for my collection of Wilton colored sugars for cake decorating and grabbed a couple recycled wooden coffee stir sticks and mini silicone mixing cups.

Quick and easy indeed! I poured a little bit of each color into a silicone mixing cup, added just a couple drops of water and stirred until the sugar was the consistency of wet sand at the beach.

Then I poured the mixture into the mold and pressed the sugar making a compact cake. This is just like packing wet sand to make a sand-castle... and just as fun – tastes better, too!

A little *TIP* – if you heat your Amazing Mold Putty mold up in the microwave a minute or two {test this first at 15 second increments to see how hot your device heats it and please use oven mitts} before putting sugar mixture into mold, it will help them dry out faster. Do not cook the sugar in the mold... it will melt or burn giving a completely different result.

**PLEASE NOTE** For your safety - please don't use a mold for food items if you have already used it for resin or other art products.

I didn't have any pink sugar... so I easily whipped some up using my natural cane sugar and one drop of red food coloring and a couple drops of water. This project took about half an hour and I made several of each color - and a couple different shapes from other hearts previously molded. My hubs will be quite surprised when I have some of these on the table for Valentine's Day brunch.

Sweetheart Sugar Cubes

How do you take your sugar...

one heart, or two... red, yellow or blue??

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog for more fabulous Valentine's Day projects! :) Sb

#Cre8time and Deflecto Craft Frames make Sweet Baby LOVE!!!

Greetings Friends! It February... the month of all things LOVE and time for another Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team Challenge. This month's Challenge theme is "Valentine's Day". I have created a special project for the occasion showcasing the new LOVERboy in our family... my new nephew Kalé Nathaniel Harden who is finally home and woo-ing the ladies.

This lil' guy was supposed to be a Christmas/New Year's Baby but he had plans of joining everyone for trick-or-treating by coming into the world on Oct. 23rd. He was a couple months early so he had to stay in the hospital while he got big and strong enough to come home... and of course, he's the BIGGEST LITTLE Seattle Seahawks fan!

For more information on the Deflecto line of products,

please visit: http://www.deflecto.com/craft/

This month the Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team is sharing a variety of creative and imaginative uses for the Deflecto "Valentine's Day" challenge so you'll want to CLICK HERE to jump over to the Deflecto Craft Facebook Page or Deflecto on Pinterest to see more of the teams creations.

For this project I used the acrylic 8 1/2" x 11" Deflecto Pink Border Craft Frame Item #69771CR - a clear acrylic frame with a slanted design where your photos, scrapbook or literature slides in from the side. An approximate 3/4" wide permanent pink border border on top, left and right edges wraps around the bottom and onto stand is a wonderful POP of color and starting point for embellishing.

You just gotta love the Dollar Tree for seasonal goodies that make crafting fun and easy! I scored some of this lace-like clear glitter tape in red, magenta and black; along with some glittered table scatter hearts, adhesive backed heart gems, and glittered foam heart stickers. I've got more than enough heart embellishments {and conversation heart candy} to last me a lifetime!

I selected the magenta lace glitter tape and added a border to the existing pink border – mitering the edges at the corners.

I sized and printed out the latest photo from my sister for this special project and inserted into the frame. I added some of my adhesive backed heart gems along the top and bottom of the border - smallest where the heart cutouts are in the lace border and medium size flanking the corners. This PINK is really growing on me ;)

Now it's time for the heart table scatter and stickers. I layered them, hand cut some, and inserted gems where they fit to create some fun falling hearts as my peaceful nephew has some sweet dreams.

The finishing touch is a layered laser cut title from my stash-o-scrapbooking stuff by Lil' Davis Designs. I have had this title forever and a day and it is PERFECT for this special gift. I assembled and adhered to the frame with double sided adhesive tape and accented with a couple heart gems... this cutie is ready for Cupid!

Sweet Baby LOVE!!!

How would you decorate with Deflecto Craft Frames?

Thanks for visiting! Please join me each month when the Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team will have a new Deflecto product challenge to debut.  :) Sb

For more information on the Deflecto line of products,

please visit: http://www.deflecto.com/craft/

Lips Like SUGAR... SUGAR Kisses...

Happy Thursday Everyone! I have a super fun Valentine's Day project featured today over at the Amazing Mold Putty Blog. I'm re-using my heart-shaped chocolate mold I made last year for my Shamrock Lucky Jar {CLICK HERE to view}.

How do you SHAPE your sugar...

CLICK HERE to see the HOW-TO.

Also - the folks over at Amazing Crafting Products are having a crafting contest... and anyone can play for a chance to win one of each of their products {Amazing Mold Putty, Amazing Mold Rubber, Amazing Casting Resin and Amazing Clear Cast Resin}. Share your "For the LOVE Of..." project here via inLinkz to be entered to win. All the details are here. Hope you enter and WIN!

Have a great afternoon!  Sb :)

My LOVE for Greencrafting SHINES for Week 2 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 32

Good Morning Everyone! Today begins week two of Challenge Number 32 at Anything But a Card Challenges. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations. Today my work is featured with a few of the other designers... CLICK HERE to check out the other design team projects today for some amazing inspiration!

The Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #32 - Tic...Tac...LOVE!! Our fabulous team of creatives put our heads together to put a visual twist on a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. The concept is the same... take your pick of three in a row!

Please choose your Tic-Tac-Toe row
 to use as your creative mojo!
{either straight across, down or diagonal}

Choose your direction and follow
the key below for square descriptions:

1.) Red
2.) Recycling
3.) Glitter {can be loose or liquid type like Stickles}
4.) Bling it ON! {beads, gems, buttons, sequins and baubles - the sparkly bits}
5.) Heart
6.) Sprays and Mists
7.) Ribbons, Fibers and Trims... oh MY!
8.) Black
9.) Lace

Please share any current project you have created and JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge. Please mention and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight February 22nd giving you 2 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process!

 

I am all about greencrafting - so it's obvious that I would choose that option. I have an Altoid Tin sanded and ready to alter which would be a perfect place to stash those special little love notes! To start - I pounced on a variety of reds and black Ranger Alcohol inks to cover the printing on the box and giving a hammered metal texture to the box. I rubbed some metal hardware to match and attached as a closure and raised feet {feet are Ideology Hitch Fasteners}.

I taped my Heart Hands Mask from UmWowStudio down with blue painters tape to hold it down while fill in the stencil with PaperArtsy Grunge Paste. This stuff is fabulous!!! It gives me just the build up of relief with the stencil to transform my recycled box into something more sculptural.

When dry, I rubbed the raised Grunge Paste hands with Inka Gold Metallic Rub in Haematite {a beautiful steely-pewter grey}. I also went back with some black spray mist to fill in the crevices, buffed away and reapplied a second coat - giving a real metallic shine!

Then I needed some dimensional hearts! So I decided to experiment and play a little. I have this pot of Viva Decor Red Glitter-Paste which was the perfect shimmery color of red that will give contrast and "POP" on the box. I added some packing tape to the back of  the Heart Confetti Mask from UmWowStudio and burnished down with my bone folder. Then I dragged the glitter paste across the stencil using a recycled gift card {free tools are best}, and filled each heart with glittery goodness. The glitter-paste has little pearly beads in it so not only are the hearts red and shimmery, but they have a little dimension, too! I let this sit aside to dry all day while I was at work and that evening they were ready to pop out. Needless to say - I am still peeling the dried paste off of my stencil... though I have a million little glittery hearts for my crafting pleasure.

  

I have some pretty fiber wrapped chenille stems which I cut to wrap around the feet; then I twisted around some black fun fur for a finishing touch.

Using Diamond Glaze, I layered and adhered down my glittery hearts. Some are stacked two high, the center heart held in my metallic hands is four hearts stacked large to small.

A LOVE-ly Treasure Box...

Perfect to Hold Love Notes!

The finishing touch is a final coating of Amazing Clear Cast Resin {not pictured since it's hard to see and photograph} sealing this with a KISS and giving it a high gloss finish!

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Products used: Various Ranger Alcohol inks {including Cranberry, Currant, Red Pepper, and Pitch Black}; Ditto Glimmer Mist in Black; PaperArtsy Grunge Paste; Viva Decor Red Glitter-Paste; Heart Hands Mask from UmWowStudio, Heart Confetti Mask from UmWowStudio; Inka Gold Metallic Rub; Diamond Glaze Dimensional adhesive; misc brads from stash and Ideology Hitch Fasteners; black fun fur; fiber wrapped chenille stem; Amazing Clear Cast Resin and recycled Altoid Tin.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #137 "Love Me Tender" CLICK HERE

Simon Says Stamp "Have a Heart" Challenge - CLICK HERE

Simon Says Stamp "Love Notes" Challenge - CLICK HERE

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you find a little time to play along. I look forward to seeing what you create {CLICK HERE to LINK UP your projects}.  :) Sb