Sneaking in Under the Wire...MAC #43

Whoo hooo!  Managed to sneak this one in under the wire for the Making Art Challenge #43 over at Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group.  The gauntlet thrown this time?  Use 3 circles, 2 hearts and at least one Wendy Studio 490 stamp.  List Mama Lori used Wendy's project on Page 28 of her Make Art, Studio 490 Style III book.  (if you don't have this one yet...GET IT!!)  She gave us 2 weeks to do this one...a good thing, too, since the last week went flying by.

And then there was the "Patrick cleaning incident"....let's just say that my beloved boy decided that he could earn some extra allowance by helping Mommy tidy up her crafting area.  A lovely thought, really, but his cleaning concept involved a large trash bag and scissors.  His creative cleaning drove a creative rethink on my part, so I started over just this afternoon.  Stuck with the same idea, but my poor froggy princess suffered for it, I think, LOL.

AGB Making Art Challenge #43

Here's my take on the challenge...more ZooCrew than Studio 490 style, but that's how we roll around here!  And boy did we ROLL...turned into a fun "Mommy & Me" project with my three youngest as advisers and helpers!  What a fun way to spend the evening!

My background is Distress Ink in Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord using the Wrinkle Free Distress method.  Added a spritz or two of Espresso color wash just for fun.  Can't really tell too well in the picture, but I clear embossed a Hero Arts heart stamp randomly here & there in the background, too.  Overstamped the whole shebang with my fave splatter background by Wendy in CTMH Vanilla Cream.

My pal down in the corner is from Worried About Art, as is the "some days need a DELETE button" sentiment. ;-)  The larger sentiment I found at my favorite brick & mortar store, Angela's Happy Stamper.  (Figure I can get a LOT of mileage out of it, given the antics of the Zoo Crew!!)  Froggy Princess is a converted sticker from CTMH, improved by the addition of a very kissable pout from Wendy's Blossom Bucket embellishments.  Her crown and wings were actually Ben's idea...he said that adding 'em would "really crystallize the idea that she's a princess frog, just in case people didn't get the joke."  hee hee hee  All the kids were chock full of ideas this afternoon, trying to help my creation recover from the Trash Can Adventure.  My circles are topaz Swarovski crystals from my stash; hearts are random brads from my stash.

Thanks for visiting and looking at my insanity!  Lori will issue Challenge #44 tomorrow...think about getting inky, join the fun and find time to Go Make Art!. 

Everything Wendy Vecchi MAC #42

Since the slow return of my creative juices has continued, I ducked into my inks again for the Making Art Challenge #42 over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group.  Creative List Mama Extraordinaire, Lori, challenged the group to MAKE ART modeled after a project in Wendy's third book, page 36...make a tag with a house on it. Use of at least one stamp from the amazing Studio 490 is, of course, a must.

EWV MAC #42: House Fun

I just picked up my Spring seasonal Distress Ink set and I've fallen in love with the lovely colors!  Decided I'd ink up my tag with Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac, added in a wee bit of Tumbled Glass and "voila!".  Followed up with a light stamping of a Wendy background (from Celestial Art) in Broken China. Since the theme this week involves a house, I embossed the tag with one of Lord Tim's Sizzix folders that has great architectural details. Hit the high spots with some Dried Marigold and Gathered Twigs.

The house is a Wendy original from the Residential Art set.  Stamped it twice, once on a solid background of Dried Marigold and the second on a Peacock Feathers background. Reverse stamped onto some metallic brown paper to cut out a mat.  Then , I cut the door out of the marigold version and mounted it on the peacock one to create a 3 layer house.  I was playing with my Rock Candy Distress Stickles, so I outlined the roof and the door with it.  Stamped "Important Stuff" (Journal Art) on a little dried marigold scrap.  "This Side Up" (from Label it Art) stamped & embossed across the bottom--both directions. ;-)

Brads, spinner & metal flower from Tim Holtz Alterations.  "Family" acrylic from the $1 bin at AC Moore (SCORE!!).  Twill sticky words, sheer orange flower and ribbons from my stash.

Next Challenge will be issued tomorrow bright & early...join the fun and go MAKE ART!!

Inky Again for MAC #41

How wonderful it feels to have inky fingers again!! It's been a weird and rather rough spring for the Zoo Crew (and their Mama, too).  My mojo has fled and, well...

'NUFF excuses!!!

Making Art Challenge #41

Lori, our fabulous and challenging hostess over at Everything Wendy Vecchi tossed an ATC challenge to the group, based on Wendy's Book 3, page 20.  Working with these adorable little canvases is fun stuff!  I enjoy this format, so figured I should just dive back in.  That said, this didn't quite match up to my "vision" but that's OK....I finished it!  To quote a stamp I recently acquired...'bad art is better than no art'  !!!

I started with a couple of Wendy's super cool Art Parts...an ATC and the stemmed flower.  I covered the art parts flower with some Basic Grey Out of Print paper, then stamped the corresponding Studio 490 stamp (Art in Bloom).  A little clear embossing powder to shine it up and finished it off with a stippling of Spun Sugar and Shabby Shutters.

The background is sticky-backed canvas.  It's spritzed with walnut & cherry blossom inks, then overstamped with the spotty Wendy background from Ticket to Art.  Sentiment is another Wendyism (from Tools for Art) stamped onto sticky backed canvas; used a little Worn Lipstick and Spun Sugar to color that up. Bottom lace edge, buttons and baker's twine are all from my stash.  Journey charm & memo pin are, of course, from the fun Tim Holtz collection.

Sadly, my photo doesn't do it justice....the color combo is quite nice, if I do say so myself!

I'm picking up Tim's Spring Distress Ink set tomorrow...can't wait to start playing with those!!  Wouldn't say the mojo floodgates have opened, but....I'm feeling the flickerings of *some*thing going on in those dusty creative cogs....YAY!

Lessons Learned from a Week of Mondays

Last week was, well, pretty crappy.  Errr...pukey.  VERY pukey.  Started on Sunday afternoon with a houseful of kiddos feeling so ill they were completely disinterested in SuperBowl snacks.  (Crazy, right?)  *sigh*  The week just "got better" from there...and even Friday brought little relief. (Though my attitude was much improved just by virtue of Fridayness.)

The good news is that I had the opportunity to prepare for half-times at Saturday's Upward Basketball games.  I got a little tired of listening to myself whine.  (OK, a LOT!)  So I decided to see if I could tie a week of Mondays to Valentine's Day and the Universe's Ultimate Valentine.  Rather, I tuned into some major Divine prodding...and this is the result, which I shared (in random iterations) during half-times on this last Saturday.   I was incredibly blessed by the opportunity to share these thoughts with the Upward families.  After a few requests for the write-up, I thought I'd share here on my blog:
 

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…anyone know what Tuesday is??  (Valentine’s Day)

Anyone here hoping for one of those BIG mushy, flowery cards cut in the shape of a heart?  Maybe some flowers?  A box of chocolates?  A stuffed animal?  Got big plans for a romantic night out?

No plans?  Going through a dry spell or a loss? 

Well, I’m not trying to be a wet blanket here, but, well, get ready for disappointment.  What if the card isn’t mushy enough? The flowers wilty the chocolates all those weird nutty ones?  What if you are alone? What if the stuffed animal isn’t big & fluffy enough? 

Don’t worry!!  No need to turn into a Valentine's Day Protester…you’ve got a chance to get to know the best Valentine EVER.  You could even say the Universe's Ultimate Valentine!!  In the Psalms, we are told:  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him (Psalm 103:11). 

I don’t know about you, but I have no CLUE exactly how high the heavens are above the earth, so I’m just going with “that’s a really long way.”  And let's assume that I've accepted the reality of God's love for me. But I'm a people.  And people need reassurance sometimes. So, just how do I know?  How does He show it?  (I'm hearing that song from the movie "Enchanted" in my head right now!)  Just ask Him!!!…later in the Psalms, we find out that David did just that!  In Psalm 143:8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Have you ever had one of THOSE weeks?  The kind where you muddle through, praying for Friday?   Well, long about Monday #3, I got pretty sick of wallowing in myself. So, I went looking for encouragement this week and I found it in a rather odd place—the book of Lamentations.  YUP, Lamentations!! (Okay, I'll admit that I usually skip that one--right up there with Leviticus!)

Lam 3:32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

Lam 3:22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

So there you go… God’s love is there even in a week of Mondays—and sometimes easier to spot because we need to be LOOKING for it actively.  No great big stuffed up bears fell from the sky into my arms, no M & Ms rained down on me, but rather small, unexpected moments brought Him to mind.  A few examples from my week, in retrospect:

•   a 7 year old beastie who thanked me for cleaning up her puke (no, really!)  
•   a surprise latte delivered straight to my desk by a thoughtful co-worker
•  the *right* song playing on the radio at just the right time (Check out "Lift Me Up" by The Afters--GREAT song!!)
•   a brilliant, clear 4am star filled sky and a lovely bright crescent moon on my way to work
•   a 16 year old joining in a family Veggie Tales sing-a-long when she thought we weren’t looking
•   And my favorite…a random conversation with my children about WHY God made a bazillion kinds of flowers instead of just one.  (I LOVE this idea!)  Think about it...He loved us soooo much that he gave us a HUGE variety of flowers, trees, what have you, knowing that, like him, we would enjoy variety.  WOW!

 Here’s what else I’ve learned this week.  God’s greatest gift of love is the Cross, true.   That kind of amazing event doesn’t happen every day…but the demonstrations of His enduring love DO! It’s not just hearts & flowers that romance us to His side.  We have His love letter—the Bible—and we have each other.

So, Upward families…a challenge for you—be on the lookout.   What Valentines did God send YOU this week? 

Everything Wendy Vecchi: Making Art Challenge #26

This week Making Art Challenge #26 rolled around on Everything Wendy Vecchi...and List Hostess extraordinaire Lori challenged us to create a Studio 490esque project based on Page 27 of Wendy Vecchi's Making Art Book #2.  Rough guidelines were to use polka dots, a face and, of course, at least one Studio 490 stamp.

Inspiration struck when I received my package from the wonderful gals over at Absolutely Everything which included a sampler package of Wendy's Clearly For Art.  I decided to try to play with it a bit for this project...learned a few things!  (Um...this stuff gets hot.  So does the air coming out of a heating tool.  So do the tweezers or clamps you use to hold your Clearly for Art embellishment.)  I have a lot more to learn about this fun medium...in the meantime, I like the flowers. ;-)  Also tried a different--for me--color palette than my usual blues & greens, and I think I'll have to try these colors more often.

EVW MAC #26: Face & Polka Dots

Lacking possession of a Wendy face, I had to go a different route.  Luckily, I benefited from a recent stash sale by Susan K, a  fellow Wendy Vecchian.  I started with a Studio 490 Art Parts ATC, thinking I would crop the face quite a bit, but when I saw the whole face together, I just had to leave her the way she was. ;-)  (She did lose a bit of her mouth...but the eyes were the key feature here anyway!)  The lady on the base is stamped on a background of Dried Marigold, Antique Paper, Scattered Straw and a wee bit of Pumice Stone.  Script background is from Hero Arts stamped in Pumice Stone.  My gal is stamped in Frayed Burlap.

Wings are more Art Parts, stained with Fired Brick.  I softened the color a wee bit with some Worn Lipstick Distress Ink on top. To make the flowers, I used a couple of different Wendy stamps on Clearly for Art and grunge paper.  Orange floral bits are punched from the same background as the framed sentiment.  The grunge paper flower is stained & inked with Fired Brick & Dried Marigold. 

Sentiment is Wendy's, stamped in black archival.  I wanted to punch up the color a little--was hoping to pull more of the orange tone from the base--so the sentiment background is Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Scattered Straw.  Frame is another Art Part, stained in multiple layers of Dried Marigold.  Polka Dots on sentiment background are in Frayed Burlap; on the frame in Vintage Photo.  I put a layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles on the grunge flower, wings and the small frame to give 'em some sparkle.

Artful charm is from Tim Holtz.  Random other stuff from my stash.

Thoughts?  Tips?  Suggestions?  For TRUE inspiration, join the fun with the talented ladies at Everything Wendy Vecchi ...Challenge #27 should kick off on Wednesday morning!