Life Update - MOVING - AGAIN!

Makin' Some Happy Cards

If you're like me, you often find that you need a card or two on hand at all times. With this in mind, every once in a while, I sit down in my studio and make cards like a crazy woman. Here's a look at my latest batch. For each card, I used images from Close To My Heart's Artfully Sent and Artbooking Cricut Cartridges, along with some thin cut dies from Michael's.

I love the look of this one with what I call window grids. 

It's like peeking out the window and seeing the edge of beautiful shrubbery:

This one (below) says COUNTRY to me all over the place. 

Imagine some gorgeous greenery in a grouping of Mason jars!

I have already sent this one to someone.

This one makes me think of Blake Shelton's song, Honey Bee, every time I see it!

This one has all the feels of fall! 

The patterned paper is from Close to My Heart and is my all-time favorite.

This one (below) is simple but very elegant looking.

You can send this one to a beautiful friend just to say, "Hi!"

This last picture is a grouping of the rest I made that day. 

I already sent one of these to someone!

I make them blank on the inside so I can stamp an appropriate greeting when I want to send a card. 

What have you made lately?

Happy Paper Crafting!

~Tricia

Sibling Crossword Display

This week as I was browsing through Pinterest, I came across a few word displays made with Scrabble pieces and I thought they were very cute. I saw one naming siblings that particularly caught my eye, so I thought I'd do my own version.

I don't know why I never thought of this before, but perhaps raising 8 kids is enough to do. Now that they are grown - my youngest is 20 - I have more time to make things like this.

And, after all, they are still my kids, even though they are grown and some are married with kids of their own. Nothing will ever change the fact that they are siblings and I wanted to celebrate that.

I started with a piece of leftover tile from our daughter's recently remodeled bathroom:

Even though we did most of her bathroom last fall, my Canadian just this week had the opportunity to finish the floor. I think it looks great and a few pieces of tile were left over. I actually retrieved my piece from the garbage!

I used letter tiles from a game I have two of, Syzygy. We rarely play the game and prefer Scrabble, so I didn't mind using letters from one of the games. 

I did have to borrow some Ms from the second game.

I worked the letters on plain paper for a while until I got the best layout:

Once I had the best layout, I used washi-tape to tape the letters together on the back, making it easier to move around as "one" piece. 

Then I glued the taped-together framework to the tile using a liquid glue.

I added a few paper embellishments using patterned paper, giving it balance and a pop of color.

I also added "Johnson Siblings" in the biggest empty corner to define who the names represent.

I put the number 8 in the other corner for obvious reasons!

I love how it turned out and know it will be a keepsake for years to come!

My kids are everything to me.

Happy crafting!

~Tricia

Let's Make PIZZA! My Homemade Pizza Recipe DIY Pizza

Canvas MAGIC! Mixed Media Canvas Creation

My middle daughter and her family sent me some fabulous pictures on Easter Sunday. I can't stop looking at these pictures and had to think of a creative way to display them. I wanted them all together but didn't want to search for just the right frames because I'd printed them and cut them to various sizes. 

The pictures below show what I did and I'll tell you how I did it.

First, here's my finished product:

How great are these pictures? 

I started with a regular 11 x 14" canvas:

I put one canvas on a protected surface and sprayed it with spray pens from Close to My Heart, filled with barn red and blue denim ink from their refill bottles. 

I don't think those colors are available, but you can choose any color your like:

The spray took 2 days to dry, but once dry, I punched out the ruffled shape from Close to My Heart's Dazzling Die Cuts, pieces I had bought years ago but still haven't used up:

The spray goes on randomly as you spray it and that's exactly the look I wanted:

I used the Dazzling Die Cuts to accent behind the pictures for a hint of texture.

I love how it turned out!

Thanks for reading!

Keep creating!

~Tricia

My New Pantry ORGANIZED!

Giveaway Time!!!