Back from vacation!

Last week at this time, I was here:

Thoroughly enjoying my first family vacation out of New England.  Evidently while I was away, Boston needed umbrellas the entire week.

So for Dreamweaver's blog post, since Lynell did some umbrella's, I thought I would show you some too...

Today it is gorgeous out.  Let's hope it stays that way for our Memorial Day weekend and we don't need any real umbrellas any longer!

Creating fast and furiously!

It's been a whirlwind here since my last post.  Right before Easter, I came down with Strep throat.  Unfortunately regular medication didn't touch it, so on Monday I went back to the doctor and had a different medication prescribed.  This one, I 'could' be allergic to.  It's a cousin of another med I am allergic to.  Well, needless to say, I am.  And so I've had to take the rest of my meds with a nice dose of Benedryl.  Which knocks me right out!  ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.

Once I woke from my stupor and felt better, I knew I needed to get into high gear!  My online Advanced Stenciling class with My Creative Classroom opens next Monday!  Yikes!  I had barely started creating any of the videos, PDF handouts or Presentations!

I set myself to task this week and just a few moments ago finished up the last presentation for the third week of class.  I'm what you might call a last-minute-Nelly and sometimes, I'm putting the finishing touches on these things the night before the class opens.  But!  I have made an improvement.  The first week of class isn't until next Monday and all is completed!  Now to wait until Monday!  Here are a few screen shots from my class...

There's always lots of information in my classes and the best part is, you'll have step by step hand outs for each of the techniques!

Now that I have that class off my plate, I'm on to some in person classes I need to worry about.  Those will be tackled tomorrow and Friday.  My plan is to have all my classes, directions and everything work related DONE by Monday.  See, next Thursday we are headed out for an 8 day vacation to DISNEY!!!  Yup!  I cannot wait.  This will be out first major family vacation ever!  The last family vacation was to Maine (only a few hours away!) and the last vacation hubby and I went to that didn't require driving was a cruise to Bermuda 8 years ago!  So, we are long overdue.  This is going to be a fabulous trip.  My Brother, his family and a family friend and his family are all going down too.  Not the same dates but we will share some time together there.  We're even going to celebrate my youngests 8th birthday there!  I'm too excited.  BUT!  First, I must finish my work....

Another Sketch Thursday!

Spring is finally arriving here in Massachusetts!  I'm so happy to see daffodils and tulips starting to bloom.  The days have been getting warmer, I've even been able to open my moon roof once!

This Sunday is Easter and today is Sketch Thursday over at the Dreamweaver design team.  So, I thought I'd combine the two.

Here's the sketch for the month, created by Lee...

I created the torn layers on just a piece of paper using some of the new Papersoft from Viva Decor.

I've been working on this card a little bit at a time for a little while.  The little bunnies are pasted, glued and then flocked!  I also added some pink and grey stickles for their little bunny ears, nose and eyes.

The 'Spring Spheres' (Easter Eggs!) are pasted in black, then pasted over with the crackle paste.  I then placed the stencil back on top of the design and colored it with some inks.  The eggs were kinda stark white, so I colored them with some Apricot Papersoft and then used a little bit of embossing powder over all of it to give it a slightly glossy look (like and egg!).  Cut everything out and mount on your card background!

A couple of friends asked about the double flocked bunny.  I covered most of the bunny in white and then once dry, added glue and brown flock in just the area I wanted the stripe.  A small amount of brown is on other areas of the bunny but if you allow the white to dry fully and you don't get glue anywhere else, you should do a pretty good job of coloring the bunny two toned.

Have fun with your stencils and have a Happy Easter!

To my husband...

On Tuesday, April 5, Patrick and I celebrated our 14 year wedding anniversary!  I'm so happy to be married to this man.  He's my best friend, my love and my everything.  We are extremely fortunate and have a beautiful home, two great boys and each other.  We've worked through some bad times but mostly we have a lot of good times!  Whether raking the yard or watching a movie, pinching pennies or living it up, living through sickness or living healthfully, we have worked through it and each year we get closer.

Today, this card goes out to my loving husband....  Thank you!  For everything!

Art Journals, Hand Bound classroom open!

My latest online class is all about Book Binding!  We are making two hand bound journals in class over the next 4 weeks!  Complete with all sorts of great techniques for your inside pages too!

If you've ever thought about making your our journals, check out my class at My Creative Classroom.  Enrollment continues through April 8th and class is only $20!

These Art Journals will be treasured for years to come. This class is jam-packed with loads of techniques! We'll explore paints, chalks, inks and mists. We'll decorate each page in the books as well as create the covers and then finish them with a hand sewn binding. They can be created with Metal coverings or without.

This class will run for 4 weeks and each week we'll cover several techniques. By the end of class, you'll have created two journals perfect for keeping your art thoughts, or for scrapbooks or just to enjoy!

Sketch Thursday!!

It's Thursday so another day to play over on the Dreamweaver Design Team!  This week we are working with a sketch!  This is the sketch: 

And here's my Springy take on the sketch:

That's the trio tulip stencil number LL 444 in the middle.  I first placed down the stencil and used some inks to color in the areas.  I did have to use the picasso a bit at the top near the actual flower part.  Then I took off my stencil, cleaned it and replaced it exactly back where it was.  I then used Dreamweaver's Translucent paste over the image and let it dry.  While it was drying, I dug out some Springy butterfly and pink paper, orange ink and orange stickles and created the card.  It does open in the middle with the tulips and then inside says, "Happy Spring!"

Once the Tulips were dry, I sponged on some blue and green coloring so that it appeared they were grounded and adhered it to the card.  For some added effect, I also used some of the blue and green on the pink cardstock as well. 

This stencil works perfectly for this type of card but it also is the perfect stencil to use for a nice, bright Spring-time card!  And for us here in Boston, who just got another dusting of snow today.... I'm yearning for my tulips to make their appearance in my yard!

Wanna play?

This Thursday is sketch Thursday with the Dreamweaver Dream Team.  If you are interested in playing along... here's the sketch we will be using....

I'll post Thursday and you can see what I did!

If you wanna play and have a blog, you'll be able to put a link to your blog on the Dreamweaver Blog too!