Well, that only took forever.

Finally! I'm getting back into the groove of scrapbooking again. I've been making so many cards over the last few months that I think I've only made one, maybe two pages for my own scrapbooks. In fact, the current page isn't even for a scrapbook; it's a shadowbox to hang on my bedroom wall.

I've been redecorating my house for a while now. I'm moving the efforts into my bedroom. I got my old furniture back from my mom's house. It's all white and all beat to heck and back, since it's been used by three girls/women and one guy since it was originally purchased in the late 1960's. I was going to replace the knobs, sand the furniture, and repaint it. However, I kind of like the beat up look it has. I might just leave it. I supplemented those two pieces with a headboard I bought online and an old elementary school desk that I found at an antique shop for $50. The desk became my nightstand.

Now that my furniture is set up, I've moved my efforts to the walls. They're already painted sage green, which I love. I found some artwork while vacationing in Florida. Check it out:

The walls look more olive in this pic, but they're actually sage. The artwork is from a talented guy named Alan Foxx. You can find more of his work here. The pictures have some green in them and actually look great on the walls. They pop just the right amount. Please look at his link, because this picture really sucks!

I bought one of his angels to go on an opposing wall, and made a shadowbox to hang with it. Here's the shadowbox layout. It only took me forever:

And here's how it looks actually inside the shadowbox frame, with a little Willow Tree figurine added:

The picture is one of me and Rick taken a year or two before he passed away. The tag says: "Memories are the most beautiful pictures our minds can paint, and nothing can ever erase them." The lace and doily are from my recent trip to Germany. The figurine and couple ornament are Willow Tree. Paper is Graphic 45 Le Romantique collection. I distressed the edges, then added white crackle paint. Flowers and butterflies are prima. I think that about covers it! Now I just need to get this sucker up on the wall. Maybe this weekend, or maybe not. I've got so much other crap to do! It'll get there eventually!

The only kind of cooking I like to do...

...is the kind you do with papers and embellishments!!! I hate cooking food and I pretty much suck at it, but I love recipe challenges for crafty stuff. Therefore, I was happy to hear that Kim's choice for her challenge at Guylou's Inimitability was nothing other than a recipe challenge. Fun, right? This one is called a "1-2-3" recipe challenge. So, here's what you need to do.
Make a card or project that includes the following:
1 - one lace or ribbon
2 - two patterned papers (some people call these PP or DP)
3 - three bits of bling (charms, pearls, rhinestones, etc)

Here's my example for you:

I used one pink grosgrain ribbon, two pink patterned papers from Prima, and three rhinestones. This is Louise and cupcake. Isn't she cute? I paper pieced her top but colored her skin and hair with copics. I used liquid applique as cupcake frosting.

You have until July 28th at 10 pm EST to enter the challenge. One random winner will get a $5 gift card to Guylou's Inimitability, as well as a chance to appear as a guest DT in a future challenge. What are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Insanely awesome friendships

Ok, so before I get started with my latest card post, I'll take a minute to wish everyone in the USA a Happy Independence Day! Thanks to our military, past and present, for all of their dedication, efforts, and sacrifices to maintain our liberty.

The fireworks will be starting here in an hour and a half or so. I am stoked. I love fireworks. It's also a bit sad, because I'd usually be watching them going off over the armory in Colonial Williamsburg. Rick and I would stay there for the holiday, walking to the armory from our hotel and setting up our little folding chairs and snacks. We'd settle in for an hour or two of people watching before the fireworks got started. Thinking about that kind of thing makes me miss him yet again (as if I don't do that enough times each day, already!). So, let's focus on good stuff, instead. I don't want to get all weepy-eyed and crap like that.

I spent all weekend getting a bunch of stuff done that has been sitting off to the side for ages. I hung shelves and pictures, scrubbed floors, went through my closet and made a pile for the Goodwill, and so on. I also took some time in there to be a bum, read my book, and color.

This time around, I colored "stepsisters" by Mo Manning. Mo is incredibly talented. All her images make me smile and/or tug at my heartstrings. This is one of the ones that makes me grin. These two just look so ornery. They're perfect for a card for a very close friend of mine, who happens to share my sarcastic sense of humor, understands my moods (and deals well with them), and is just a blessing in my life.

This image made me think of us. She's taller and slimmer than me with straighter hair, while I'm short, fat, and have curly/wavy hair. I admit it, we're both a little ornery, too! Papers are Basic Grey "hopscotch." I just noticed that the little teddy bear charm got hidden under the bow. Darnit. I don't feel like taking and uploading another pic, so just trust me that there's a cute teddy bear who hangs from the bow, okay? I added glossy accents and bling to the image, although the bling doesn't show up well. It's on the taller girl's shoes and both necklaces.

As usual, I colored the image with my copics. Here's the ones I used:

The sentiment says: "Our friendship is insanely awesome! You're insane and I'm awesome!!!"

Ok, I'm off to see what else I can get into before my family gets here to watch fireworks with me! Happy 4th!

We're seeing stars....and stripes, too!

It's time for a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability! This time around, it's my wonderful friend Sara's turn to play hostess. With the 4th of July just around the corner, she made a wise choice. I think so, anyway. Our challenge this time around is to make a project using stars and stripes. Since not all of you out there in blogland are American (happy Canada day to my Canadian friends, by the way), I decided to make a card for celebration rather than patriotism. Besides, you all know I'll be making more patriotic cards again soon for my soldier letter writing stuff.

After my last card of over-embellie happiness, I tried to keep this one clean and simple. We all know how hard that is for me. I think it's a little TOO simple. However, having a deadline and virtually no time towards the end of this week pretty much means I didn't get to throw more things at it. That could change before long, since I haven't sent it out yet....

I don't know why the colors are glaringly yellow. I promise, they're not quite so flourescent in real life! LOL. Leah's dress is colored with a stardust pen, so it blings all over town. Anyway, why not give our latest challenge a shot? Make a card or other project using stars AND stripes. Upload it over at Guylou's Inimitability before July 14th at 10 pm EST and have the chance to win a $5 gift card to her digi stamp store as well as the chance to be on the guest DT in a future challenge. If you need more inspiration, check out the cards by my fab DT friends (links on my left sidebar). Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! And you knew I'd take another chance to say it (insert broken record comment here, LOL)....give thanks and praise, please, to our wonderful military who have made it possible for this country to remain free. They sacrifice every day for us, the least we can do is say, "thanks."