Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #14

It's time for another challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog. It's our 14th challenge and our theme is "Summer Days".  Just make a project that to something about summer days. Easy peasy and fun!!

Our awesome sponsor this month is the great online retailer Butterfly Reflections Ink. They are giving our random winner an awesome prize package. Check out the blog for more details. 

For my project, I made a shadow box. I don't have a step by step this month, because after I finished the first one, I completely changed it. The only thing that is same is the blue sky background. It was covered with Tim Holtz text paper which your can't see in the photo, but it had some wrinkles in it and they add some texture to the sky. I used different blue acrylic paints and a watered down wash of white gesso to get the final effect. The sun was a wooden piece from Studio Calico. I covered it with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint and it's all crackled, but that is also hard to see in the photo. 

To make the water I used a a wave punch on Coredinations card stock. Then I sanded the paper and edges to make the letters and numbers stand out a little. That cute boat is what inspired the whole piece and it looks much cuter in the frame than my original image. I covered the frame with some Cosmo Cricket paper with Decoupage. I cut out the birds from the same paper that I got the boat cut out from. I love how they seem to just fit in this little scene. 

Finally, I added the word "Enjoy" from Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers so it looks like its the name of the boat. I always enjoy being on a boat. I adhered the sun and boat with foam tape to make it more dimensional. I also painted the edges of the frame inside and out white and I inked the edges of the frame with a Stampers' Big Brush Pen. There is a clear acrylic layer on the top of this shadow box. If you like the shadow box, you can find them in several shapes at Darcie's. 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #13 - A Year of Choices (And Some Changes)

It's the first of the month. That means it's time for another challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. We are celebrating our 1st Birthday!! It's been an awesome year and we have lots of fun things planned for our birthday celebration. Be sure to check out this month's challenge post for some amazing inspiration.

We are also implementing a few changes to our challenge rules, so be sure to remember the following when creating your June post.

1. You must include the challenge graphic.
2. You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs to be eligible for prizes and recognitions.
3. You may combine with 4 other challenges.

Also, our sponsor this month is Maya Road and they are offering 2 prizes filled with Maya Road Goodness to our 2 lucky random winners.

Our theme this month is "A Year of Choices." You can pick out any theme we have done over the past year. How fun is that? For my project I used several themes: Spray Inks, Around the House, Stamps and Flowers.

I made a very Patriotic American Shadowbox. Since Memorial Day was last week and the 4th of July is coming up and I bought an awesome new Unity Stamp Company Patriotic Stamp set, I was in the mood to make some thing red, white and blue.

Michaels has had these 7 Gypsies Shadowboxed in the Clearance section a while now and I finally picked one up.

To create the background I brushed on some Decorate Twinkles Glitter Paint in Blue Galaxy.

Then I sprayed on Decoart Spray Ink in Primary Cyan and Maya Road Spray Mist in Strawberry.

Here's the final project.

When I was trying to decide what to do, I thought my big Unity Flag Stamp would fit perfectly in the big opening - and it did!! I also used the smaller round star with stripes Unity stamp. I used Decorate Media Matte Medium to adhere the stamped images to a piece of thick chipboard before I adhered them to the box. I stamped Let Freedom Ring on a Maya Road Ticket and stenciled a red star on the ticket with Decoart paint and an Andy Skinner Stencil. I attached it to the shadowbox with a Maya Road Mini Clothespin in White.

In the lower left corner of the box I added a Maya Road Kraft Flower that I colored with Stampers Big Brush pens in red and blue. Then I added a wood 4 and 3 blue Maya Road flowers. For the rest of the embellishments I used stickers from various companies. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will play with us this month!!

12 Days of Holiday Projects - Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of The 12 Days of Holiday Projects Blog Event. Several crafty blog friends decided to post one holiday project a day for 12 days - just for fun.  The projects will be anything crafty like cards, ornaments, wreaths, advent calendars, etc… We’re posting projects we made using products we like and hope they will give you some inspiration for your own holiday craft projects. You will find links to all the other participating bloggers below. Hopefully you can find time to look at the other blogs and leave comments on any that inspire you. If we inspire you to make something please let us know - we would love to see. Happy Holiday Crafting!!

Today I'm sharing a wintery shadow box with you. The images are from the Lawn Fawn Making Frosty Friends stamp set. The shadow box is a from Darcie - it's the Addison Large 2 Chipboard Shadowbox. The patterned paper is 12 Days of Christmas from My Minds Eye. I also used Frosted Lace Stickles. The Sticker  is from Holly Jolly Christmas by Echo Park. I colored the images with Copic Markers. I think these chipboard shadowboxes are so fun and inexpensive. I have several that I still need to decorate and I cannot wait to get to them. Maybe I'll do a Valentine's one. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will be able to visit the other ladies blogs and leave them some love. They've been working very hard on some amazing holiday projects to share with you.

Barb Murphy
Ceal Pritchett
Donna Bowman (me)
Jen Cuthbertson
Lalo Ik
Libby Hickson
Rachel Izakowicz
Rachel Kleinman
Regina Hardy
Veronica Zalis