Summer Breeze-ing By

Sometime ago I told myself I was going to take a course or class to help me step up my skills...well, add too my skills....well, teach me skills!  So about a month ago I signed up for Kelly Rae Roberts Unscripted.  It's not so much a class but a collaboration and inspiration type of experience.  Kelly shares her talents and creates as you watch or create along with her.

I have to admit that I was excited and enthusiastic about the first episode I watched (which was 3 into the start of the experience) and created what I thought was a pretty good example of what I watched. Original only in the fact that I had nothing like what Kelly had except maybe some paint which I've had forever and thought for sure it was probably yucky by this time.  Lucky me, it was just fine.  Anyway I was able to come up with a project from the get go.  Here it is:

I didn't think it was too awful and I actually think I added a bit to it even after I took this picture. I was sooooo out of my comfort zone.  But, I did it!  The next few episodes were not what I was hoping for in the series but I'm hanging in there with it.

So, in the same spirit of wanting to learn I have now become hooked on YouTube!  I have subscribed to many channels and have seen and followed many videos but I am most inspired by Vicky Papaioannou, Einat Kessler and Gabrielle Pollacco.  I think I've mentioned Gabrielle before in my blogs but she doesn't seem to be creating and/or posting as much.  I'm sure, being so talented, that she is a very busy woman.  I look forward to her posts when they do come out.  Vicky and Einat are equally as talented in their own right and talents.  Here is a piece I cased and made my own after watching a video by Vicky:

And, shortly after this another project, also cased from a Graphic 45 piece I saw on Pinterest:

And, in-between I was inspired by another gal on YouTube, Toni Burt,to make these two pieces:

As you can see I've been trying my hand at several different versions of mixed media and I'm loving it!  I am watching, learning, trying, failing, failing, failing, and trying again.  I have some really ugly pieces set aside to b reworked (which I now know I can do), but these are what I've done for now and I have another KRR inspired project started and hope to finish and post soon.  But while it was drying I did finally create another Tim Holtz tag, this one for the August 2016 challenge:

I'm still a Tim Holtz and Graphic45 junkie and continue to stock pile papers and emphemra for both and have many mental (and Pinterest pinned) projects that await enough hours in the day.

It's a long post but catches me up for now!  

March Muchness

You have to be familiar with Alice in Wonderland, the Johnny Depp version, to understand the term "Muchness".  Johnny/The Mad Hatter tells Alice that she has lost her muchness-that she is much less muchy than she used to be...or something to that effect.  That's kind of how I've been feeling of late.  I've made a few cards here and there, didn't make a tag for Tim Holtz challenge in February, did do a little love bug project for co-workers (that I've neglected to take a photo of but here is a link to the inspiration for them http://eighteen25.com/2013/01/lil-love-monsters/ ), and made a couple of cards for co-workers that are leaving.  Today, I made a couple more cards, one for a neighbor who lost his sister and one for an upcoming baby shower for my cousin.  After 3 boys she's having a girl and is very excited, and finally, a tag for the March challenge.

But, back to my lack of muchness....it seems to be creeping in everywhere...home, work, crafts, relationships.  Easier to keep to myself and not bother anyone, but no motivation.  Man, I'm depressing! LOL!!!  So, pushed through and made the tag.  Hopefully a good start to finding my muchness!

Do you want to build a snowman?

If I only had the energy I would!  The snow has been beautiful....cold, but beautiful.  We had so much fog last night that the frost this morning was sticking up off of everything.  But, it was so cold and I just couldn't make myself get out there with my camera.  I'm sure I missed some amazing shots.  So, instead I did a little clean up from the Christmas card gift and card making in my craft room.  Some sorting, some tossing.  I even created a box of strictly Christmas papers and ephemera of some of the items I used this year so I know where it is.  I am going to try my hand, again, at a craft show this year.  Fingers crossed...something health related has bumped me from participating two years in a row!

My Christmas cards this year were fairly simple but fun.  I'm a Santa fan and even have a small collection, mostly ornaments, so they were Santa inspired.  I always try to make them Santa related.  Here is a sample but it wasn't the final version.  I popped the star and the beard and mustache up on the cards I sent out, and added a bit more sparkle.  I used three different kinds of washi tape on the bottom but the belted looking tape was may favorite.  But, I sent them all out....all 60 of them!

Yesterday my sister, husband and I went to a very large and busy antique show.  There were so many beautiful antiques and many, many crafted and repurposed items.  It was a one day show with over 150 vendors.  It did inspire me though and I have many ideas swimming around in my head!

So, I did work on some thank you notes today and a tag for the Tim Holtz 2016 January tag challenge (below), and that was as far as I made it.  I didn't have the fail tape that Tim used in his project so I improvised with...well, foil!  It doesn't hold distress ink very well, even when I tried to heat dry it.  I also don't have Distressed Paints yet but I think it came out fairly well!

Back to the grind tomorrow and hopefully a few creative nights this week!  Happy crafting!