Vintage Handmade Flower Video

Hello my crafty friends!!  I would like to introduce you to my very first You Tube video!!  I know it's just a flower...  but it's my flower lol!!  It took alot of hard work, trial and error, a few tears and a glass of wine to complete!!  It was first completed on Saturday, and then the editing program stopped working and everything was lost!!  So, up and early Sunday, got to work on it, and the final project was finished and uploaded to You Tube at 11:34 pm!!!!!  And then I was in bed by 11:35 lol!!  So please watch, and go easy on me!!  It's my first attempt!!!  Also I would love for you all to subscribe to my channel!!!  Thanks for watching!!

Valentines Day Layout

Hello there my crafty friends!  Today I shared a layout that I created over at She's a Sassy Lady and I thought I would share it with all of you too!!  Now I usually try to share a tutorial on how I created something, but I am not feeling very well.  But, I really really wanted to share this with you!  It's a single page layout of my grandaughter for Valentines Day and of course it's loaded with Prima goodies!

My Silly Valentine

Well I hope you all take a little time this week to tell the people in your life how much they mean to you!!  Happy Valentines Day to all of you my crafty friends!!

Vintage Art Journal Page

Hello my crafty friends!! Happy 2014!!  Today is my day to post over at shesasassylady.blogspot.com Thank you so much to Sheila for having me today!!  Well, as many of you know, my son got married in November and I have over 600 photos to sort threw to scrapbook!  So, before I dive into that project, I felt the need to play in my art journal!!  This page does not have a photo in it.  I also did not go out and purchase anything extra to make this page!  I only used what I had in my stash!  I think it's a good thing to go through what you already have and use it!!  What I love about this page is that it started out as just a white blank page!!  I did not know where I was going to go with this, but as I began to dig through my stash of papers and embellishments, a picture began to form in my brain! This does not happen often lol !!

This is the completed page!  I will try to point out a few tricks I used!  I apologize for not taking photos while creating this, but I was in the moment and my camera wasn't handy!  I started out by tearing 3 different patterned papers and randomly layering them in the center of the page.  I used Golden Mat Gel to adhere them to the page.  I find that works better than my ATG gun when I know I will be adding water to my work!  I then added a floral frame for the page out of more paper from my stash!  Before laying down the frame I distressed the edges and inked them with Vintage Photo Ink. I used two different stencils on this page as well.  For that aged/vintage look I used modeling paste by golden on Prima's crackle stencil.  On the post card I cut out, I used modeling paste mixed with brown acrylic paint and the mini ledger stencil from The Craters Workshop.  I then gave them a good shot with my heat tool to dry all the modeling paste I used!

One of the next things I did was mix more brown acrylic paint (cheap cheap cheap) with water.  Then using my fingers, i spread that mixture all over my page!  I used my fingers to make sure that the brown paint mixture got into the nooks and crannies of the texture!  Then I brought out my heat tool again!!  The wood gate is from kaiser Kraft and I just used my black chalk to give it the wrought iron look!

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this cluster of flowers!  All the flowers are from my flower stash, most of them are prima, but there are also some others from my stash I threw in there too!  I loved adding some gems to the middle of the flowers for that little sparkle!!  I also found some bling in my "bling bin" and cut them all apart and fit them in and around the cluster of flowers!  I think it adds a really nice touch!  All the tags and journaling are just pieces I cut out from random scraps I had in my scrap box!  I try to not waste anything!  To add just a little more texture, I paint on glossy accents here and there, to make things pop!!!

In this photo you can get a better view of how I got the brown paint mixture into all the nooks and crannies using my fingers!!  The Simple Things Is What I Love really speaks of who I am!  I  hope you enjoyed my journey on this journal page and that it will inspire you to just sit down and create!  I started in the middle and worked my way to the edges!  Take a jump and see where it takes you!!  So many of these tricks I plan on using on the wedding album, and what better place to try them out than in my art journal!

Have a safe and crafty January!!  We are in a deep freeze here in Indianapolis.  For those of you experiencing this extreme cold, stay safe and stay warm!  The wind chill is only -10 here right now, which is better then the -40 we had earlier!  Craft on my friends!!

Always,

Leslie

Happy Holidays!!

Hello my crafty friends!!  I would like to take an opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  My household has had a lot of ups and downs this year, but we have made it through and we are looking forward to 2014 being a great year!  My husband lost his job this year and started with a new company that moved him out of state.  He did the best he could, but we just could not maintain two households, so he has moved back home today!  So, let the job hunt begin again!  We've been through tough times before and we can do anything together!  But any prayers would be appreciated!  We also celebrated the marriage of our oldest son Kevin to the love of his life, Katrina!  The ceremony was breath taking and we danced the night away at the reception!  Katrina has graduated college this year, Kevin has graduated college and will start his teaching career in January (the apple didn't fall far from the tree with this kid!)  2014 will once again bring changes for our family!  Kevin and Katrina and their daughter Khloe (often my scrapbooking muse) are looking for their own home and will be moving out after spending 3 years with us.  My youngest son Don will be graduating college in May and will go where the wind blows him!!  Jim and I wish them all the best as they leave our nest and create their own nests!!  (and grandma will get her craft room back ;) )

This is my grandaughter Khloe Marie.  She is the light of my world!  It's hard to believe she will be 3 in the spring!  We had so much fun with her this Christmas!!  Our home was visited by a silly little elf that Khloe named Magic!  Magic played all kinds of silly tricks and hid all over the house!  And Khloe finally understood "Santa" and was so very very excited to leave reindeer food in the front yard and homemade cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!!  It's been a long time since we've had "Santa" age children in our home!  Next year, they will be celebrating Christmas in their very own home!

Christmas is a tough time of year for me.  It was always my Dad's favorite holiday.  He's been gone 13 years now.  I have always done well in dealing with his passing, but Christmas is always hard for me.  I would have been happy to not even put up a tree, until Khloe was born!  It is still tough for me, but little Miss Khloe is the reason for my season!  Her smile and her joy are helping me to get my Christmas back on!  Thank you Khloe for always putting a smile on Grandma's heart!





So, from my family to yours, Merry Christmas!  I hope you all enjoy what ever holiday your families celebrate!  I wish you all peace and happiness in this coming year.  Thank you for all your love and support you have shown me since starting this blog!  I look forward to a great 2014 with all of you!!  God Bless!!

Leslie

Merry Christmas from the McGrath family

Wood Mounted Stamps & Storage

Hello my crafty friends!!  Today it is my pleasure to share over on She’s A Sassy Lady!!  A heartfelt thanks to Sheila for inviting me!!

I can’t believe it’s December already and Christmas is just a few short weeks away!!  For me, that means a TWO WEEK break from school, which mean TWO WEEKS of crafting fun!!  I just love my CTMH stamps, but I have tons of wood mounted stamps that need to be re-organized to take up less space.  

So, that means that this gallon size bag of wood mounted stamps (which is just 1 bag of many lol!) needs to be un-mounted and still remain useable!  This is such a fun and easy project!

First, using Stazon Jet Black ink, I stamped each stamp onto a sheet of sticky backed foam.  (I got this at Michaels for just .89 each).  Be sure to leave space between each stamped image so you can cut them out!

Here is an example of just a few of the wood mounted stamps from my gallon size bag, stamped onto the foam.  As you can as see, I left an ample amount of space around each stamped image.

After stamping onto the foam and cutting them out, I removed the stamps from their wooden blocks.  I then removed the foam from the back of the stamps.  If removing the foam gets difficult, simply put the stamp in the microwave for 20-30 sec. and that should loosen any glue on the back of the stamp, and allowing you to pull the rest of the foam backing off!

I made sure to clean off the back of each stamp with “Un-Du” and carefully scraped off the excess glue with my cricut spatula.  I then wiped them off with a baby wipe.  I just purchased some Goo-Gone to see how that works as “Un-Du” is a bit pricey and can be hard to find.

Now I peeled off the back of the sticky foam and held it up to a light and lined up the actual stamp with the stamped image on the foam.  Once I was confident the images were lined up nicely, I pressed the stamp down firmly to ensure that the stamps were nicely stuck to the foam.  I used scissors and on some stamps I used a hot-knife to trim away any excess foam from the stamp.

And here you have it!!  All those wood mounted stamps hae been removed from their wood blocks and remounted onto foam.  Now, not only are they ready to be used on my stamping blocks, but they take up much less space to store!

Here are the before and after pics!!  Can you believe it!! 

They now fit into a sandwich baggie!!  Once I get all of my wood mounted blocks unmounted and put onto foam, I will put them on laminated sheets for even easier access and storage!!

I hope that this tutorial encourages you to get those stamps out, get them organized in a fashion that saves on space, and gives you easier  access to them!!  You won’t use them if you don’t see them!!  I am hoping to do my very first video tutorial using this technique!  I want to get that accomplished on my two week break!!  Thanks for hanging out with me today!!  Keep on crafting and from my family to yours, have a safe and wonderful holiday season!!

The Window - Mixed Media Page

Hello my crafty friends!!  I was at a crop on Saturday, and after I finished up a few odds and ends on some projects, I decided to work on a page for my art journal.  The name of my journal is No Rules, No Limits, and it is my creative work in progress!!

We are heading into a cold, grey, dreary season called winter!  So, I thought I would create a page with sunshine on it!  There is no title on this mixed media page, but I like to refer to it as "The Window".  I love to look out my window and see sunshine!  So here it is:

I first primed the page with gesso and then sprayed the page with some sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang.  I then used some Prima stencils, the crackle one and then one that has really cool windows.  I also found a sunburst stencil for the sunshine!  To create texture with the stencils, I used molding paste, and a prima stamp for the brick.  I also used some acrylic paints on the leaves. (I made my own stencils for the leaves!)  On the window I mixed some perfect pearls into the molding paste.  After drying it, I added some black acrylic paint and then wiped it off for that distressed look.

Here is a close up of the leaves I painted using my own stencils.  There are prima flowers and pataloo flowers tucked in there along with some bling to just add a delicate touch!  I'm not real good at clustering flowers, but I know that with practice i will get better!!

And here you can see the sunshine through my "window"!!  I hope that you enjoy the sunshine through "The Window" and that this creation brings you inspiration!!






I hope that you have a great week!!  Thank you so much for stopping by my little creative part of the world!!  Keep on creating my friends!!

Fall Texture Layout

Hello my crafty friends!!  Happy November!!  Today is my turn to share over at She’s A Sassy Lady and here is the project that I shared!!  Thank you Sheila for having me!!  It’s been a crazy, crazy time at my house and I must say, I’m exhausted!!  Last weekend we celebrated the marriage of our son to the love of his life!!  The wedding ceremony was beautiful and the reception was blast!!  I haven’t danced that much in years!!  So any guesses on what I will be scrapbooking for the next year lol!!  I hope to have some photos to share in the next week or so!!

This month I wanted to share a fall layout that experimented with textures.  I am really trying to push myself to think outside the box and push my comfort zone.  Sometimes I succeed and sometimes it’s an epic fail!!  With that being said, I started out by spraying one of the pages with coffee shop glimmer mist to allow it to flow with the 2^nd page of the layout.  I then added some molding paste and sprayed it with olive vine and then wiped it off.  That way I got the color with just a little of the glimmer!!  Some other fun textures I added was drywall tape and twine!!

The flowers were cut from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and the leaves were cut from the Cricut A Child’s Year Cartridge.  Both were stamped with a script writing stamp and then painted with crackle glossy accents.  After I photographed the layouts and edited them, I noticed that the flowers were lacking something….  so I added Black Diamond stickles to the center of the flowers!  

The tags were misted with olive vine and gold glimmer mist and stamped with CTMH stamps.  The flower is hand sewn and sprayed as well.  I also added a small wooden clock and key shaped paper clip from Prima.  All the edges have also been distressed and chalked!!

Thank you so much for playing along with me today on my journey into textures!!  I hope that it inspires you to push your comfort zones in your creativity!!