Mermaid Reverse Canvas

I have a whole sea/nautical theme going on in my living room right now. So I really wanted to make a piece that went along with what I had out on display. I saw Gabrielle Pollacco's mermaid canvas and just loved it. Then she made a tutorial on the mermaids tale and I knew that I would do a mermaid themed piece!

I started with making the mermaid, it took my about 1 1/2 to get it just the way I wanted it. My hands really hurt the next day! Next I worked on the background. I ripped up some Teresa Collins Vintage finds paper added some Tim Holtz tissue tape, did some texture paste stencil work and through the center is regular old tissue paper. I used my Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays in Jack in the teal Pulpit, Jazzin' Jivin' purple and Aloha Avocado. I just kept spraying and blotting until I was satisfied.

This photo shows the shimmer of the sprays really well.

 The mermaid I painted with regular old acrylic craft paint. While the tail was still wet I sprinkled some glitter on it. I did brush on a bit of Lindys in to give the hair a bit of shimmer too.

The octopus was a silver colored charm that I painted purple.

The finished product hanging above my little shelf with beach themed goodies.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Create something wonderful today :)

xoxo Amanda

Steampunk Fairy - Scrap Around the World July

Good morning all! This is my first time playing with the ladies over at Scrap Around the World - this month's mood board was created by their design team member Tusia Lech:

You can find the challenge here: Scrap around the world - July challenge

I love all the whimsy in each of this pictures, but I was especially drawn to the hot air balloon in the bottom right corner. To me, with the darker colors, top hat basket, and the balloon floating away with the breeze struck me as borderline steampunk. So with that thought in mind, here is my entry:

I used Bo Bunny's Somewhere in Time collection. I printed two of the steampunk fairy image I found, and fussy cut one so I could put foam squares behind it. I wanted her to look as though she is ready to fly off the page. I added a bit of stickles to her wings and jewels to her goggles. I kept with the balloon theme, and used several on the page.

 Here is a close up of the fairy - I just love the fact that I was able to find an image of a steampunk fairy, with dragonfly wings to boot! I think it really adds to the whimsy of the page.

I did some fussy cutting of some of the papers and added lots of clock parts to really keep with the steampunk theme. Cheese cloth and drywall tape give it some texture. I also did random drops of Lindys Stamp gang color shots for some color and shimmer interest. Lots of distressing, and inking as well.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Create something wonderful today :)

xoxo Amanda

Time in a Bottle - OUAS July Challenge

This month's theme over at Once Upon a Sketch is Numbers. Picking a number and center your journalling around it. Based on this sketch:

 Here is my entry:

I titled it "Time in a bottle" but the number I chose was 247365.... The journalling is sealed in the envelope on the page as reads as follows:

247365 - 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. Like the song Time in a Bottle there doesn't seem to be enough time to share with you. So these moments that we get, like the hike we did the day this photo was taken, are all the more precious to me.

I used Bo Bunny Somewhere in Time collection, and did lots of inking and distressing. I also used homemade molding paste and Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays.

 I sealed the envelope with the journalling in it with my wax seal. I thought it added to the vintage feel to the page.

 Here I used a Tim Holtz die and embossed it with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder in Byzantine Bronze. I added clock parts and a bottle. This clock is set to 4:00 - the time my husband and I got married.

The other two clocks on the page are set to 2:40 and 5:30 the times our children were born.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Create something wonderful today.

xoxo Amanda

Mini Album - Chloe

I made my first attempt at a mini album last week. I searched pintrest and youtube and found this tutorial which I really liked by Cassie Keith: Mini Album Part I. Her instructions were simple and easy to follow.

 I am really happy with how it turned out. I learned some things along the way, like sometimes I really hate glue. That is the only thing that I am upset about, there are parts in the seam that glue got on and when I inked the edges, the ink wouldn't stay on the glue so it looks a little off. I had been thinking about giving it as a gift, but that would have bothered me to much, so I decided to use it for my daughter Chloe's baby photos. Chloe thinks I'm nuts to let that bother me, but well, I'm a perfectionist. Here are the pages, as you can see I have started to add photos, but am no where near done.

I really enjoyed making this and will definitely be making more of them. Thanks for taking a peek!

Create something wonderful today :)

xoxo Amanda