First Ever Altered Canvas

Hey all, I know that it has been a while since my last post, however, I really wanted to share with you my first ever altered canvas!! :)

Here it is!! What do you think? I have to say, it definitely took some time and a bit of thinking out of the box for me, but I LOVE how it turned out!!
What inspired me to create this small piece of art was my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jeff...a few years back they began drifting apart and unfortunately ended up divorcing, however as time went by, they re-discovered the love and respect that they once had for one another and decided to get married again :) So yesterday, June 15th, 2013 they got re-hitched. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to their wedding because they live so far away, instead I decided to make them a small altered canvas, that I hope will remind them every time they look at it to "cherish every moment" they have with one another and to remember that marriage is hard work and that there are going to be ups and PLENTY of downs, but to always remember to love one another and know that TOGETHER anything is possible. But I hope that you like it as much as I do...oh, and here is the matching card I made to go with it

New Video

Hey all just wanted to let you know that Episode 3 of my mini DIY Wedding Series is up on my YouTube channel. I am going to apologize ahead of time for the audio, I don't use my nice camera for filming very often (which I hope to change in the future) so I am not really familiar with where all of the mics are, so you will hit patches of muffled sounds, so I am very very sorry about that, but I hope to do better in the future. I do hope that you enjoy the video and that it gives you a lot of inspiration :)

Valentines for my Valentines

Alright, so I admit that two postings in one day may be a bit over kill, but I did want to quickly share with you some of the valentine cards and a valentine gift I put together for the valentine's in my life (i.e. Mom, Dad, and my Hubby)



So these two valentine cards are going to my parents, the card on the left is for my dad, I didn't want to make anything too girly for him, so I stuck with something a bit more basic. I believe that I cut the mail box and the envelope from the Doodlecharms cricut cartridge (sorry, I can't remember the measurements). The card base itself was made from craft card stock, then I just made a simple layer of red card stock and a cute red and white print paper. I thought it turned out pretty cute and I hope that my dad likes it!

The valentine on the right I made for my mom, I have always wanted to try creating a slider card and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a go :) So once again the base card is craft card stock and for the layers I took again a red piece of card stock and layered on a cute red white and pink stripped paper on top. On the back of the red layer I traced and cut out a long sort of oval shape, thin enough to ensure that the pennies I was using for the slider mechanism would not fall out. I then cut out the cutest little owl from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge (once again, I can't remember the measurement)and adhered it to my penny slider and inserted it into the slot I cut, and viola, it spins like a charm :) I think that my mom is going to get a kick out of this card, I can't wait for her to see it. But we must also not forget that on Valentine's Day, chocolate is in order, so my parents will also be getting some chocolate treats to go along with their cute cards.



Ok, so this last photo is the gift basket that I put together for my hubby. I know the picture isn't very good, but it is the best I have. I spent quite a bit of time on my hubby's gift. On the card in the front I spent a great deal of time putting it together. I believe that the tree and the silhouette of the couple I cut from the Sweetheart cricut cartridge and the clouds were cut from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge. I of course wrote a sweet little note on the inside, however, there is also a little letter that I wrote to him that included all of the words of the candies I included in his gift basket. I don't think I will share the note with you, because, I would prefer that it remain just between the two of us. Lets just say that he loved his gift and I truly enjoyed putting it together for him, and getting to be creative at the same time.

Alright, so I guess I will leave it at that for today...but I do wish each and everyone of you (if anyone even reads my blog) the "Sweetest" Valentine's Day and that you get to spend it with the ones you love! (whether that be your significant other, friends, or family) Good bye for now :)

Finally another video!!

Hi all, I know that it has been forever since I have posted anything here on my blog, and every time I take a detour from blogging I always kick my self in the butt, because it seems like I never seem to stick to the things I set my mind to. I really really need to focus on my blog and my YouTube channel because I really do love sharing with others and hope to one day create a little creative online family, especially since I myself don't have any friends or family members who share my same interests or creativity. But enough with me yammering (is that even a word?) on, I just wanted to let all of you know that I FINALLY filmed another video and uploaded it to my YouTube channel, this one is another Wedding DIY video. I know that in my last video I promised to share with you some of my own Wedding DIY's that I completed for my own wedding (which by the way was October 2012, I can't believe I have been married for over 4 months now!!) I hope that you enjoy the video and that it gives you some great ideas! I hope to talk to you all again very soon, have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Save-the-Date Sign

So as you all know, I am getting married in October of this year and being as though the wedding is slowly approaching, it was time to get some engagement photos taken. Since I recently decided that I wanted to make my own save the date magnets, I thought that it would be a great idea to make a sign that my fiance and I could hold while we took some engagement photos. I wasn't exactly sure the look I was going for with the sign, so I went to the trusty internet for inspiration! And inspiration is exactly what I got! I specifically loved the signs created by myprimativeboutique.com (she has gorgeous signs if you yourself are not up to making your own). After admiring her signs for a little while, I decided I was ready to get started! So here was my process:

1) I first started off by purchasing a 1/4 inch MDF board from Home Depot and had them cut it down to 1'x2' (so I almost got 4 out of a 4' long board...great for experimenting or if you happen to mess up)

2) Using some basic Martha Stewart Beetle Black Satin acrylic paint, I painted a base coat to my MDF board (remember this is the color that will show through your crackle layer).
In order to speed up drying I ran my heat gun over the board.

3)After the base coat is dry, I sightly watered down some Elmer's Glue All glue and put it in a container (this is what is used to create the crackle look)
Now through experimentation and trial and error, I discovered that covering large areas with the glue mixture would not work well for creating the crackled effect, because the glue would dry too quickly, so in order to still create a great crackle look, I decided to create a faux wood plank look to my sign. In order to do this, I used some masking tape to create a straight line and then with the glue an paint, I just broke the long sections into what looked like planks.
In order to create the crackle effect, put down a layer of glue (thick or thin layer is completely up to you, you will get a different look depending on the thickness of the glue layer). IMMEDIATELY after laying down the glue layer I squirted a little bit of my top coat paint right over the glue itself, then with a brush, lightly lay the paint over top of the glue, DO NOT over work the paint or work too ruffly or it will not work. Now you could let that layer dry by itself and slowly watch the cracks appear, however I was a bit in a hurry and excited to see the finished look, so I ran my heat gun over the top and voila we have crackle!!! :) (make sure that you don't hold the heat gun to close or you will cause bubbling to your paint)

We have crackle!! Yay! :)

4) The next step was to print off the lettering that I liked from my computer. It takes a little trial and error to find the right font and the right size for the project, but very easy.
After I had my font printed off, I just measured and laid out the lettering exactly where I wanted it to go an taped it down so that it wouldn't move (just make sure that your tape isn't too sticky or it will peel off your paint when you go to remove it)
Once I had everything where I wanted it, I took some carbon transfer paper and laid it under the font and traced the lettering so that it would transfer to the paint. (press fairly hard or you can even color in the entire letter so that you have even better transfer)

5) After transferring the font to the sign, I then painted over the transfer with black paint (for this part of the project, you must have a great deal of patience!!)

6) The last step in the project after letting all the font dry is to spray the sign with a clear coating so that everything is protected! ( I chose to use a clear matte coating so that there was no chance of getting glare in the engagement photos)

Here is the finish project!! (It definitely takes some time and patience, but the end result is well worth the work!) Hope you like it! :)

Hi everyone...

Hey everyone, I know I have been absent for a while...I don't mean to be. I have been crafting quite a bit actually, however today my mom had surgery, and I have been trying to help her prepare for her surgery for the last few weeks. So I just wanted to apologize for my absence and that I am going to be busy helping take care of my mom for the next couple of weeks, but I hope to be back after that, so please hang in there with me.

My very first video tutorial!

Hey everyone, just thought that I would let you all know that I finally finished and uploaded my very first video tutorial for all of you. Right now it is over on YouTube until I can figure out how to get it uploaded onto my blog. Please go check it out, it is Episode 1: DIY Wedding Invitation
Hope you enjoy!